Well, just like at my children's private school in the summer, I decided that each week we would have a theme. So far we have had Insect week, Dr. Seuss week and Astronomy week. This week has been Dinosaur week so I thought I would share with you what we have done.........
Every Monday and Thursday we visit the library....my children are signed up for every summer reading program in town. Our local library is always having lots of FREE events throughout the week. I also plan it so that I am picking up books and videos for the following week's theme when we visit. I put a lot of things on reserve! My son loves to get on the computer and play the learning games at the library. It is so funny you would think we didn't have a computer at home. Mondays are also my day to visit the grocery store.
On Monday of this week, we did paper mache dinosaur eggs. I made my own paste of flour and water added a little bit of cinnamon and salt. I then tore up some old newspaper into strips. Last weekend I found some miniature plastic dinosaurs in Michaels. I had my husband put a dinosaur into each balloon and blow it up...not too big...and tie it closed. This is our egg form. Yes, this is a messy, messy project but they had fun....even I did one. One word of caution, don't leave them outside in the heat to dry. We did ours on the picnic table outside and I thought they would dry outside quicker. Well, when we came home from the grocery store they had already hatched......not good! Luckily, my son's was still in tact. Everywhere I read you're not to put on more than one layer at a time. Well, he did and his survived....Anyway, you are supposed to put another layer on for the next couple days. On day 4 you can let them paint it and then on the last day.....you get to cut them open and see the baby dinosaur hatch.
We also did some dinosaur pictures with stickers and displayed them on our door. Each week I display some of their artwork on our patio glass doors. Crayola makes window markers that are really cool. The kids love to write on the glass doors and I use them to write on the doors to let them know what we will be doing each week. We also have our monthly calendar, weather and day of the week. Who needs a bulletin board?
Every Monday and Thursday we visit the library....my children are signed up for every summer reading program in town. Our local library is always having lots of FREE events throughout the week. I also plan it so that I am picking up books and videos for the following week's theme when we visit. I put a lot of things on reserve! My son loves to get on the computer and play the learning games at the library. It is so funny you would think we didn't have a computer at home. Mondays are also my day to visit the grocery store.
On Monday of this week, we did paper mache dinosaur eggs. I made my own paste of flour and water added a little bit of cinnamon and salt. I then tore up some old newspaper into strips. Last weekend I found some miniature plastic dinosaurs in Michaels. I had my husband put a dinosaur into each balloon and blow it up...not too big...and tie it closed. This is our egg form. Yes, this is a messy, messy project but they had fun....even I did one. One word of caution, don't leave them outside in the heat to dry. We did ours on the picnic table outside and I thought they would dry outside quicker. Well, when we came home from the grocery store they had already hatched......not good! Luckily, my son's was still in tact. Everywhere I read you're not to put on more than one layer at a time. Well, he did and his survived....Anyway, you are supposed to put another layer on for the next couple days. On day 4 you can let them paint it and then on the last day.....you get to cut them open and see the baby dinosaur hatch.
We also did some dinosaur pictures with stickers and displayed them on our door. Each week I display some of their artwork on our patio glass doors. Crayola makes window markers that are really cool. The kids love to write on the glass doors and I use them to write on the doors to let them know what we will be doing each week. We also have our monthly calendar, weather and day of the week. Who needs a bulletin board?
On Tuesdays our local Zoo has one of the better events for children. Each week they feature a different animal. The volunteers at the zoo tell a little about the animal, sing songs, read a story, play a game and then end with a craft. My oldest daughter likes to come and join us when we go. This week was about the otters which is my son's favorite animal at the zoo so we had to go! We sometimes pack a picnic lunch and eat at the picnic tables at the park at the end of the zoo. They also have an awesome playground that the kids love that was all dedicated with local donations in memory of Ben. It's called Ben's Red Swings.
The Dollar Store is a wonderful place to find things for my theme weeks. I was able to find a Dinosaur Bingo. My mom found a dinosaur activity book as well as a book about dinosaurs with 3-D glasses...this was a hit with my son! I buy a lot of workbooks from there. My son will sit down and go through one whole workbook in one sitting. A dollar well spent.
Planning for our next activity I painted some small edible dog bone treats the night before with white poster paint. Once they dried I broke a few of them up and then I hid them in various spots in my son's sand box. Both my son and daughter were given clipboards, pencil, piece of paper, a ruler, a sand sifter and a brush. I told them we were going on a dinosaur dig for bones but not only did they have to find the bones but they had to plot them out on their paper once they found them and measure them and list their size. Big sister helper her brother with the measurements. I even had a safari hat and binoculars. They really got into this ....I only let one go into the sandbox at a time and once I thought half the bones had been found I let the other one go in.
To explain to them more about fossils, I had made an example out of playdough. Three days before I had taken a handful and pressed it into a styrofoam plate to flatten it. I then took numerous little items and pressed them into the playdough. I used small leaves, macaroni, pebbles, rice, twigs and made markings with a small fork. By now it had hardened somewhat and when I removed the items they had left a nice marking in the dough. You could even do this as an activity.
After we were done, I read to them about Dinosaurs. When we visit the library I make sure I get lots of books on our weekly topic and a few movies as well. When we were done reading I gave my older daughter a special wooden skeleton dinosaur puzzle to put together while her brother and I looked at the 3-D glasses book. I had purchased the puzzle from Michaels for only a couple dollars. Our last activity was music and dancing. I had rented a Laurie Berkner video that had a Dinosaur song on it. Not my son's favorite but we all had a blast dancing and singing around the living room. Her videos are awesome! They really get the kids moving and dancing.
The other activity that we do on a daily basis is reading from our "Junie B. Jones" book series. I tried to find a book that would keep the interest of both of my children....very hard. Either boring for one or the other. My oldest has read most of these books but doesn't mind listening to them again. The only thing I have to watch is to change some of the words when I am reading them...we don't say "hate or stupid" in our house and unfortunately Junie B. likes to use these words. I chose to read chapter books so that they would have something to look forward to day to day and something we could discuss. I always ask them questions about what happened when I read to them last.
Hard to believe it is only Wednesday.....more fun dinosaur stuff to come!
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