Dinos on the Brain

 

I had quite a bit of peanut butter cookie dough left after the kiss cookie incident, so I decided to do something fun with the kids in order to use it.  I let them take some clean plastic dinos and make footprints in the cookies. 

 

They loved it.

They turned out great, although I would probably use a peanut butter cookie dough that was meant to be baked and eaten without the kisses, as this dough is much better paired with some chocolate.  My little dinosaurs loved them just the same though. 

The boys had a great time playing with my container of dinosaurs, making them roar and stomp around the house.

They had so much fun playing with the dinos, I started looking up some other dinosaur-themed activities for my boys to enjoy.

I found these great dino preschool pack from 3Dinosaurs and kindergarten pack from Royal Baloo.

We have had lots of fun excavating plastic dinosaurs from eggs in the past.  My kids love smashing the soil eggs with a hammer to find the dinosaur inside.  Luckily, we have done this activity at story time and at a museum activity, so I haven't had to make them myself.  However, here is a link for how to make your own.

*These are all great ideas, but, to be honest, we didn't really do any of these additional activities.  Ideas saved for another time!*

We did do some dino reading, because you can never read enough good books. :)

Here are some of my favorite dinosaur books:

We have two dinosaur books by Aliki, Dinosaur Bones and Digging up Dinosaurs.  Both non-fiction books contain information on dinosaur history, how they were discovered, how scientists find and put together the skeletons we see in museums, etc.  Both use easy to understand wording and illustrations to help children better understand the science of dinosaur fossils.

Dinosaur Time by Peggy Parish is an older early reader.  Although some of the science of the dinosaurs in the book may be outdated, it is a great easy to read book for the dino loving child. 

Dinosaur Roar by Paul and Henrietta Stickland is a toddler favorite at our house.  It is a rhyming book of dino opposites.  With simple text and cartoon-ish dinosaurs, my two year old especially likes this one.

The How Do Dinosaurs... series by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague are also favorites at our house.  They feature great detailed dinosaur illustrations, who behave (or often misbehave) like some of the children that may or may not be in your own home or neighborhood...  Humorous and warm, with simple rhyming text.

Danny and the Dinosaur by Syd Hoff was a personal favorite of Mike's and one I remember reading as a young child as well.  A dinosaur lives in a museum until one day, he wakes up and goes on an adventure with a young boy, Danny.  What little boy (or girl) hasn't imagined what it would be like to have their own dinosaur adventure?  Another easy to read book with an inventive story.

I have a feeling we will be having more dinosaur fun in the future, but for now, we are immersed Halloween activities.  More on that to come...