D is for Dinosaur

September 25th we learned about the letter D. We started off talking about how it looked and made these duck D's.
We sang "Five Little Ducks"

Five little ducks went out one day, over the hill and far away.
Mother duck said"Quack, quack, quack, quack."
But only four little ducks came waddling back.

Four little ducks went out one day, over the hill and far away.
Mother duck said"Quack, quack, quack, quack."
But only three little ducks came waddling back.

Three little ducks went out one day, over the hill and far away.
Mother duck said"Quack, quack, quack, quack."
But only two little ducks came waddling back.

Two little ducks went out one day, over the hill and far away.
Mother duck said"Quack, quack, quack, quack."
But only one little duck came waddling back.

One little duck went out one day, over the hill and far away.
Mother duck said"Quack, quack, quack, quack."
But no little ducks came waddling back.

Mother duck went out one day, over the hill and far away.
The mad mother duck said"Quack, quack, quack!"
--And all the little ducks came waddling back!

Here's a cute video of the song:



Next, we made dinosaur silhouettes against a "sunset sky" that they painted with watercolors.

After we finished these we did dinosaur dot-to-dots. It was the first introduction to these for all of the kids, and we took our time as I helped them recognize the numbers. They all did a great job!

We did a fingerplay of "I'm a Mean Old Dinosaur" which is sung to the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot".

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I'm a mean old dinosaur

(make a mean face and hold hands up menacingly)

Big and tall.

(reach hands up high)

Here is my tail, here is my claw.

(wave one hand behind like a tail, make claw hands)

When I get so hungry

(rub stomach)

Hear me growl!

(growl like a mean dinosaur!)

Look out kids, I'm on the prowl!

(go after the kids and tickle them)

We dabbed (sponge painted) a dinosaur form and some clothespins

to make Stegosauruses.

Then they dot painted the bodies of our dragonflies with their fingers

and used the paper punch (with my help) to add dots for the wings.

We read "Dinosaur Colors". For snack we had "dinosaur dig dirt cups" wich were little yogurts with graham cracker crumbs and candy dinos on the top.

I think the favorite activity was the "dinosaur depressions" of toy dinosaur feet in playdough!

Here is the recipe I used for the clay, which turned out wonderfully:

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Add to a saucepan: 2 c. water, 1 c. salt and 4 t. cream of tartar. Heat until it comes to a boil and the salt disolves as much as it will (about 1 minute). Add 1/4 cup vegetable oil and 2 c. flour. Stir until it forms a ball and then turn out onto the counter. Knead together after it cools some and add flour if it's too sticky or water if it's too dry. You may add food coloring to the water at the beginning, or knead into individual portions of clay after it's made. Store in an airtight container.

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When I could finally pull them away from the playdough, I read "How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon" (twice, by request :) ) and talked about doctors. They put together doctor bags and colored paper stethoscopes and syringes to go inside.

They also got to stick on a bandaid, q-tip, and cotton square.

Lastly, we played the "Drip Drop Dice Game" where the children took turns rolling the die and then adding the same number of drips (of water) to the cup as there were dots on the die.