Dinosaur

Lesson
Plan
A FULL WEEK GUIDE

Activities | Skills | Readings | Songs

 DINOSAUR LESSON PLAN
INTRODUCTION

Get your child excited to learn about dinosaurs with these fun
activities!
Every child and even adult can’t help but be curious about dinosaurs! They are strange, large and
have a mysterious past. Allowing your child to play as a dinosaur while working on their skills is a
fun way to teach them more about numbers, self regulation and control over their own body
movements.

ACTIVITY PLANNER

Dinosaur Powers
Monday DOMAIN SKILLS

Cognition Completing simple number operations

Dinosaur Fossils
Tuesday DOMAIN SKILLS

Cognition Self-regulation

Dinosaur Measurements
Wednesday DOMAIN SKILLS

Cognition Measuring

Dinosaur Yoga
Thursday DOMAIN SKILLS

Physical Gross Motor

Dinosaur Tracks
Friday DOMAIN SKILLS

Emotional Sense of self

 DINOSAUR LESSON PLAN
RECOMENDED READINGS

Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs! BUY IT NOW

BY: Sandra Boynton

A fun book to help your child learn about opposites.

Dinosaurs Love Underpants BUY IT NOW

BY: Claire Freedman and Ben Cort
This fun and wacky book will have you and your child laughing.

How to Be a T. Rex BUY IT NOW

BY: Ryan North
A great read about believing and understanding.

If I Had a Triceratops BUY IT NOW

BY: George O’Connor
A book that will make you giggle and see how much dogs and dinosaurs
are alike.

Tiny T. Rex and the Impossible Hug BUY IT NOW

BY: Jonathan Stutzman
This book will help teach your child about overcoming obstacles.
 DINOSAUR LESSON PLAN
RECOMENDED SONGS

Boom Boom Dino World LISTEN HERE

A classic song that will have your child signing along.

We are the Dinosaurs LISTEN HERE

This song will help your child learn about a day in the life of a
dinosaur.

Dinosaur Stomp LISTEN HERE

This song will have your child learning while moving.

Where did the LISTEN HERE

Dinosaurs Go?
This song will help your child learn what happened to the
dinosaurs.

Move Like the Dinosaurs LISTEN HERE

A fun song to get your child up and moving around.

 DINOSAUR LESSON PLAN
SKILL BUILDING & LEARNING

The importance of building skills and learning

When children are having fun, it makes a lasting impression on their eagerness to learn. In the
activities selected here, the core of the skills your child will be working on are building a stronger
cognition and understanding of spatial awareness.

In the activities Dinosaur Yoga and Dinosaur Tracks, your child is working on their gross motor
skills and building a sense of self. These two activities have a focus to help with these skills
so your child can start to learn what they are capable of and how their body moves with their
capabilities. This is what some call the “do” phase. Your child will see themselves as capable and
therefore want to “do” things for themselves. This will unlock many underlying skills for them to
build on throughout their lives.

In the activities Dinosaur Powers, Dinosaur Fossils and Dinosaur Measurements, your child is
exploring different areas of cognitive development. These activities have a focus on helping your
child develop more of an understanding around numbers, measuring, counting, and being able
to control their behavior. Math can be a struggle for many and these simple number activities
will help your child start to think more abstractly.

Keep the learning going

Dinosaurs can be a theme that carries on for a while as many children seek to understand the
“whys” and “whens” of the life of a dinosaur. As an adult, encourage them to want to learn more
and keep their interest strong because this will give them something to focus on as they grow.
Here are a couple of suggestions to carry on with this theme and their learning:

• Show them real pictures of dinosaurs and bones. You can virtually access a museum and look
at items with your child at your own pace.

• Read more books about dinosaurs.

• Get creative with a costume to allow your child to explore their imagination.

• Tie in dinosaurs to the child’s everyday life. For example, when eating their lunch, talk about
what dinosaurs would eat (or have your child try to guess).

• There is no end to possibilities but when your child seems to be moving along from a theme
then move along with them.
 DINOSAUR LESSON PLAN
BUILD YOUR DAY

Next Steps
Each of the next pages is more about the five activities in an easy-to-print format with:

• A full materials list

• Instructions for setup

• Playful questions to ask during learning

• All our best tips and tricks!

Dinosaur 20 P
Preschoolers

Power!
Minutes Dinosaurs
2.5 - 4 years

In this activity, preschoolers will gain an

understanding of money by levelling up their
dinosaur powers! Through adding and subtracting,
they will think critically about which powers they’d
like to get and then transform into a powerful
prehistoric creature right before your very eyes.

Learning Outcomes
Domain: Indicator:
Cognitive Adding and subtracting
one from a set
Skills:
Completing simple number operations

Materials Instructions
Step 1: Print out the two printable
sheets and cut the money out.
Age Adjustments
• Printable dinosaur powers
• Printable money Step 2: Show the dinosaur powers For older kiddos: Have the child start
sheet to your child and explain the with less money so they have to
• Scissors different options. really think through which powers
Step 3: Have the child count the they would like. You can also have
money that they have. Then, ask them purchase all of the powers at
which one power they would like to once instead of one by one for a
harder math challenge.
purchase that they are able to
afford.
For younger kiddos: Help your child
Step 4: After a power has been
with the math portion of the activity
chosen, have the child purchase it
and place more emphasis on the
from you by counting out the money
power selection and performance.
and handing it to you.
Step 5: Encourage the child to act
out the new power that they just
purchased.
Step 6: Repeat steps 3-5 until the
child cannot afford any more
powers.

• How much money do you have left?

Playful • What noise does a dinosaur make?
• How many types of dinosaurs can you name?
Questions • Which power should you get next?
• How big is a dinosaur?
 Dinosaur Powers Market

$3
Dino Invisibility Dino Flight Dino Lasers

$2
Dino Strength Dino Speed Dino Elasticity

$1
Dino Horns Dino Sidekick Dino Spikes
 Play Money

$1 $1

$1 $1

$1 $1

$1 $1
Dinosaur 60 T
Toddler

Fossils
Minutes Dinosaurs
1.5 - 2.5 years

This is a fun activity for all of the dinosaur lovers!

Using everyday household items, kiddos will get to
work in the kitchen to bake their very own dinosaur
fossils.

Learning Outcomes
Domain: Indicator:
Cognitive Maintaining attention
for increasing periods of
Skills: time
Self-Regulation

Materials Instructions
Step 1: Help your child mix the them over and set them out
• 1 cup used coffee grounds coffee grounds, coffee, salt, and overnight to let the bottoms dry.
flour together in a mixing bowl.
• 1/2 cup cold coffee Age Adjustments
Step 2:Take a small handful of the
• 1/2 cup salt mixture and place it on a cookie For older kiddos: Challenge older
• 1 cup flour sheet and press down into a flat, kids to match the footprints to the
circular shape about ½” thick. Repeat plastic animals that they came from.
• Cookie tray
until all of the mixture is used or you
For younger kiddos: Use items that
• Plastic dinosaurs (or other have run out of room on your sheet.
are easier to identify like their hands
animals) Step 3: Use the plastic dinosaurs to or leaves from outside.
make imprints of feet into the
mixtures, using 1 dinosaur per circle.
Alternatively, you can use different
animals or even leaves from outside.
Step 4: Place your cookie sheet in
the oven at 200 degrees fahrenheit
for 30 minutes.
Step 5: Once finished baking, take
the cookie sheet out of the oven and
use a spatula to remove the fossils
from the sheet. When cooled, flip

• What type of dinosaurs did you pick to make prints?

Playful • How many types of dinosaurs can you make?
• What sound does a dinosaur make?
Questions • Where do we find fossils?
• How big is a dinosaur?
Dinosaur 30 P
Preschoolers

Measurements
Minutes Dinosaurs
2.5 - 4 years

This is a fun activity to have your kiddo measuring

and talking about height. Using toy dinosaurs,
children will learn how to measure their height and
recreate it using building blocks.

Learning Outcomes
Domain: Indicator:
Physical Using non-standard measur-
ing tools, such as their feet,
Skills: hands, a piece of string, when
Measuring they play, build or create.

Materials Instructions
Step 1: Set out several large toy
dinosaurs or other animals.
Age Adjustments
• Lego blocks
• Large dinosaur toys (or Step 2: Have the child name each For older kiddos: Use blocks that
animal. don’t lock together for an added
other animals) challenge of building a tower that
Step 3: Have your kiddo help you
• Chart paper or construction create a chart on the paper with the stands on its own.
• Paper names of the animals at the bottom For younger kiddos: Be careful that
and numbers along the left (e.g. 20 younger children aren’t putting small
• Markers
at the top if you are using large lego pieces in their mouths and
blocks). instead use larger blocks.
Step 4: Choose one animal and have
the child build a tower using lego (or
other blocks) that is the same height.
Step 5: Have the child count the
blocks.
Step 6: Mark the number of blocks
down on the chart.

• How tall do you think the dinosaur will be?

Playful • What other things can we use to measure with?
• Do you think dinosaurs were bigger or smaller in real life?
Questions • How tall do you think you are?
• What other animals should we measure?
Dinosaur 30 P
Preschoolers

Yoga
Minutes Dinosaurs
2.5 - 4 years

Get your kiddo using up some energy and focus on

their regulation by doing some fun dinosaur yoga!
These very simple yoga poses are easy for kids to
understand and master while they use their
imaginations to transform into giant prehistoric
creatures.

Learning Outcomes
Domain: Indicator:
Physical Increasing control over
own movement skills
Skills:
Gross Motor

Materials Instructions
Step 1: Print the included yoga
poses.
Age Adjustments
• Printable yoga poses
• Yoga Mat (optional) Step 2: Lay down your yoga mats For older kiddos: Have the child try
with at least a few feet of open space to choose a routine of yoga poses
in all directions. and see if they can remember all of
Step 3: Explain a pose and help the them in order.
child perform it, holding each pose For younger kiddos: Younger kiddos
for at least 10 seconds. Repeat 2-3 will need more help in the form of
more times. visual demonstrations or moving
their bodies into position.
Step 4: Repeat step 3 for each of the
remaining poses.

• Do you think dinosaurs are fast or slow?

Playful • Are dinosaurs tall or short?
• Do you think a dinosaur can touch his toes?
Questions • What sound does a dinosaur make?
• How long can you hold this pose for?
Dinosaur Yoga
Downward Diplodocus
Go on your hands and feet, extending
your giant tail up into the air

Stegosaurus Pose
Go on your hands and knees, looking
straight ahead and lowering your back
so you can feel all of the plates along
your spine.

Extended Brontosaurus
With your feet wide apart, bend your left
knee, then touch your left hand on your left
foot while extending your right arm over
your head, making a diagonal line from
your right hand (the head) to your right foot
(the tail). Repeat on the other side.

Tree Rex Pose

Standing on your left foot, bring your
right foot upward onto your left thigh.
Bring your hands up with palms togeth-
er above your head and hold. Repeat on
the opposite foot.

Brachiosaurus Breath
Resting on your heels, sit with your back
straight and your palms on your lap.
Take a deep breath in through your nose
while keeping your mouth closed.
Exhale, keeping your mouth closed and
making a long “mmm” sound.
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Toddler

Tracks
Minutes Dinosaurs
1.5 - 2.5 years

This activity is a fun and easy way for toddlers to

create their very own dinosaur tracks artwork! All
you’ll need are some toys, paint, paper and a
disposable plate for your kiddo to build their
creativity and confidence.

Learning Outcomes
Domain: Indicator:
Emotional Seeing self as “doer” who is
powerful
Skills:
Sense of Self

Materials Instructions
Step 1: Lay down a messy mat or
sheet to protect your table or floor.
Age Adjustments
• White paper
• Paint (any color) Step 2: Pour out some paint on a For older kiddos: Encourage your
paper plate. older kiddos to make patterns and
• Paper plate get more creative with the prints.
Step 3: Lay out a piece of paper.
• Plastic dinosaurs You can also challenge them to
identify which dinosaur the prints
• Messy mat or sheet Step 4: Dip a plastic dinosaur’s feet came from if you are using multiple
in the paint and then press them toys.
into the paper.
Step 5: Repeat with different paint For younger kiddos: Some kiddos
colors or dinosaurs. might need some hand over hand to
complete the activity. Also, be extra
attentive to make sure they don’t put
any paint in their mouths.

• How big do you think a real dinosaur’s footprints were?

Playful • What sound does a dinosaur make?
• What type of dinosaur is your favorite?
Questions • Do you think these dinosaurs will have different footprints?
• What colors should we use?