Dinosaur Learning Activities For Preschool

Dinosaur week is always something to look forward to. So many kids love dinosaurs and there are so many great learning experiences you can insert into your week.

Play Doh Fossils

Explore the world of imprint fossils by letting your little learner learn through some Play Doh sensory play. Lay out some mini dinosaurs and have her press them into the Play Doh. When she removes it she will reveal a wonderful fossil!

In our science center we put out non-fiction books about dinosaurs along with fossils (rocks), magnifying glasses, pencils, and dinosaur paper. It was a favorite center to research and learn all things dinosaurs.

Paleontologist Excavation

Create your own dinosaur bones using homemade salt dough. Then fill a sensory bin with sugar, salt, or sand an let your little learners explore being a paleontologists and excavate dinosaur bones! Look here for a homemade salt dough recipe.

Dino Math

Get your kiddos measuring with connecting cubes. Measure the height and length then compare. Check out Jackie at Pocket of Preschool to see her dinosaur measure lesson.

Take this lesson one step further and create a dinosaur graph and identify and order numerals. Don’t forget about all the rich math vocabulary that can be infused into this lesson, tall, taller, tallest, height, length!

Frozen Dino Egg sensory bin

Science, fine motor, and Sensory all in one station! Freeze some mini dinosaurs in a ball of ice, place them in a sensory table, add some droppers, tong, cups, and water and let them explore. I added a little bit of coarse sea salt for some extra exploration.

To make the Dinosaur Ice Eggs, stuff a mini dinosaur into a balloon. Fill with water and freeze over night. Peel off the balloon and you now have a frozen dinosaur egg!

Books, books, books

There are so many amazing dinosaur picture books out there. Here are a few of my favorites! Visit one of my earlier posts 21 Dinosaur Books for Little Readers.

Dinosaur Sized Feelings

Time for a brain break? Try out these dino moves to break up the heavy thinking and add some heavy moving to your little learner’s day for some fun sensory work.

You can find this FREE PRINTABLE at the OT Toolbox.

Dinosaur Jump

To play this game cut out pairs of dinosaur feet in various colors and place them on the floor in various directions. Hint, tape them to the floor so they wont slip as your kiddos jump on them.

To play, have your little dinosaurs jump on the dinosaur feet turning their bodies to match the direction the feet are facing.

If this is too hard for you kiddo, simply modify by having them jump without rotating.

Make the feet in a rainbow of colors and have your kiddo practice color identification. You can do this for letters identification, sight word practice, number identification, and so many more.

This cute Dinosaur Jump was adapted from Raising Dragons Monster Footprint Hop.

Dinosaur Songs & Finger Plays

Help your preschoolers develop their gross and fine motor skills, improve their memory, and gain social skills just to name a few skills kids learn while having a ton of FUN while engaging in a multi-sensory experience with these dinosaur songs and finger plays!