Dd is for Dinosaur

Elijah started asking when we were going to do the dinosaur unit ever since he found out there was one, which was before we even started kindergarten. It came at a good time, too. We finally were unpacked and starting to get into the groove of our life in Asheville. Homeschooling had been less exciting since the move and this was a good way to bring back the fun of it all. We started the unit with evidence of dinosaurs in the living room...

I used these footprints for a number of activities. Some were movement ones, having him jump from one to the next. I also wrote a large letter on each one and we used them for man words he knows like man, cat, sun, etc. 

We talked about measurements and how you can use almost anything for measuring. We traced and cut out an elijah foot print and hand print then made a graph. He helped pick things to measure and chart. I thought this would be super fun, but in all honesty, it took ALL day and was more like pulling teeth. He just wasn't in the mood for it I guess. Oh well, you can't win them all :o)

I saw these two ideas on pinterest, too (seriously, my homeschooling would be so much less fun without pinterest!) We made some cute little dino feet for Yohan, too, but I never got a picture. I used craft foam sheets for them so the are more durable. Paper would work, too.

We both love Bill Nye the Science Guy. Between him and The Magic School Bus, I have at least one fun episode for most every unit. Learning about dinosaurs seemed like a good time to learn about volcanos, too so I threw that in on one of the days I added to the unit's curriculum. Most of the units we do are 6 days, but we went ahead and did 8 or 9 for this one cos there was just so much cool stuff to do.

And of course, you can't learn about volcanos without making one! I had wanted to do it outside on the grass, but it was too cold and wet out, so we tried to make it look as outdoorsy as we could...using legos. Lij covered a plastic water bottle with play dough. we poured in some baking soda with a little bit of dish soap then poured in the vinegar and food coloring and watched the eruption. Many people pointed out on my instagram picture that it looks like a pig head with a bloody snout. Gross! I assure you it is not! haha

Another favorite was making dinosaur eggs. We made them one day and then cracked them open and turned them into dinosaur egg salad sandwiches for lunch the next day. Yum!

I got the idea for this cute dino craft from here. He is still hanging out on our fridge.

This pasta and coffee grounds craft (whyyyy is it upside down??) was so cute and fun! and I got the printable for making the skeleton puzzle here.

Elijah is learning so much with letters and reading and it just thrills my heart! 

There were so many great books for this unit, but these were our favorites :o)