This month at preschool we are learning all about Dinosaurs! A few of our students are dino-fanatics, so we are excited to tap into their interest and curiosity with this unit.
The main attraction at the Dig Site is our sensory table. There was a bit of teacher preparation involved before the students arrived. We filled the table with plaster of paris (the crafting variety). Before it was fully dry, we stuck cheap plastic dinosaurs and skeletons (all from the party favor aisle at the Dollar Store). We also made big dinosaur footprints all through the plaster.
When the base was completely dry, we covered it with a light layer of sand. At the center, our little paleontologists and workers use their tools to discover the dinosaur fossils. They love this center!
We read Digging Up Dinosaurs by Aliki during story time and learned that it takes a team of people to find and remove fossils. Our students use these name tags to decide which job they are going to do at the site.
All of our paleontology tools are stored in labeled baskets near the dig site.
At the nearby science center, students can examine real fossils and read more about paleontologists in the resource book that we made together.
All of these Dino Dig labels, nametags, full color resource book, and field journals are included in this Dramatic Play Center pack. Enjoy!
Read about these other dramatic play centers:
Be sure to follow Play to Learn Preschool on Pinterest to see all of our ideas:
This looks like so much fun! I love all the details you included - and the fact that the supplies came from the dollar store! lol!
ReplyDeleteI love the job tags? Are they available somewhere? I would love to use them for our Dino unit! :)
ReplyDeleteHi Lauren! Thanks! It's one of our very favorite themes, too. All of the job tags, signs, supply labels and dinosaur book are included in the Dino Dramatic Play Set:
Deletehttps://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Dinosaur-Dramatic-Play-1559773
Enjoy :)
Jamie