by Jackie Anderson

Created on: December 02, 2008

Fun with Dinosaurs

Kids love dinosaurs - whether as toys or as characters in stories. Here are five fun ways to help your child learn through play using an enjoyable and popular theme:

1. Smallest to biggest

* Lay out a selection of toy dinosaurs and ask your child to place them in order from the smallest to the largest.
* This encourages skills of comparison, the use of comparative language, ordering and sequencing. (Maths)

2. Match the dinosaur, using a selection of toy dinosaur figures

* Give your child a clear, verbal description of each toy dinosaur and see if he or she can match the dinosaur to the description you have given.
* This helps your child to listen attentively, to process information and to match visual information (the dinosaurs that can be seen) to aural information (the words you are speaking). (Language and communication)

3. Jurassic park

* Using a plastic tray or biscuit tin lid, gather items from your garden: soil (you can use play sand if you prefer), leaves, twigs and pebbles, grass cuttings, flower heads and moss, and use the toy dinosaurs to create your own Jurassic Park scene. You can get as inventive as you want and add toy cars and your own signs etc, to the scene.
* This helps your child to develop creative skills as well as to talk about the dinosaurs and all the items that are being used to create the scene discussion stimulates thought processes as well as encouraging speech and language development. (Creative play)

4. Dinosaur Dig

* Use the sand tray to bury toy dinosaurs in the sand you can use different materials for burying the dinosaurs, such as oats, cereals, rice, pasta, flour, soil or mud (if you want to get really messy).
* Give your child a small trowel or digging tool and uncover the dinosaurs. Show your child how to brush out the dinosaur "fossil" carefully using an old paint brush and talk about how careful scientists have to be when digging out fossils.
* Besides helping your child to manipulate tools, which is great for developing those fine motor skills that are needed for writing, you can help your child develop skills of observing and using different materials to explore different textures.

5. Play T-rex Tag

* This is great to play with a group of kids at the park.
* One child is the T-Rex and the others pretend to be grazing dinosaurs. Allocate an area of safety as the "swamp" for the "grazing dinosaurs". When you call out "T-Rex Tag", the children come out of their "swamp" and are chased by the "T-Rex". When a child is tagged, he or she must stand totally still. When all are still, the last child who has been tagged can take a turn at being the "T-Rex", and the game goes on until they are all tired!
* A fun way to get physical exercise and develop muscle control. (Physical Development)
* This game also has basic rules which the children need to understand and follow. This helps to reinforce the idea that there are rules that need to be followed by everyone in order to enjoy play opportunities. (Personal Development)

6. Enjoy learning and reciting the following poem:

ONE FRIENDLY DINOSAUR

One friendly dinosaur wants to play peek-a-boo.
She finds another, then there are two.

Two friendly dinosaurs look behind a tree.
They find another, then there are three.

Three friendly dinosaurs want to find some more.
They find another, then there are four.

Four friendly dinosaurs in the water dive.
They find another, then there are five.

Five friendly dinosaurs play in the sun.
They all run to hide, now there are none.

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