Week Sixty: STEAM Storytime: Dinosaurs!

1

September 13, 2016 by libraryheather

 

img_3880-croppedProgram Title: STEAM Storytime: Dinosaurs!

Target Age Range: Ages 3-6 with a caregiver

Program Length: 60 minutes

Brief Description: Half storytime, half lab in which we explore dinosaurs.

Supplies:
-1 pound Sculpey clay
-Items that can be used for “fossil prints,” such as plastic dinosaurs, plastic ferns, shells, leaves, sticks, etc.
-Snack or sandwich-sized Ziploc bags
-Tacky glue (at least 4-6 bottles)
-White cardstock printed with this template (1 per participant)
-1-2 boxes whole wheat penne pasta
-18″ sheets of green foam – 1 per participant
-Washable markers
-Decorations such as pompoms, sequins, feathers, yarn, etc
-Scissors
-Glue sticks
-Scotch tape
-Masking tape
-15-18′ sheet white butcher paper
-Dinosaur images printed on card stock
-1 black sharpie
-Measuring tape
-Instructional signs for activity stations
“The Best of the Laurie Berkner Band” – Laurie Berkner (CD)
“How Big Were Dinosaurs?” – Lita Judge
“Are the Dinosaurs Dead, Dad?” – Julie Middleton
“Rex Wrecks It!” – Ben Clanton

Cost: $0-50

Advanced Preparation:
Print out a foam dinosaur foot template, cut it out, and trace two feet per child on thin green foam. Cut out the foot and the hole for the feet. Make 1 set per participant.

Create appropriate flannels as necessary.img_3877-cropped

Gather dinosaur height, length, and weight information for a variety of dinosaurs. Find corresponding images for those dinosaurs, print them on white card stock, and cut them out. It may be helpful to write the dinosaur’s name on the back of each so you don’t forget which is which.

Create the Dino Heights station (see Special Instructions and Procedures below).

Create examples of the Clay Fossil Print and Dinosaur Bones activity stations.

Make instructional signs for each activity station.

We use a powerpoint slideshow that show song lyrics and rhymes. This is helpful for parents to follow along.

Program Outline:
1. Welcome, introductions.

2. Song: The More That We Learn Science

The more that we learn science,
learn science, learn science,

The more that we learn science,
The happier we’ll be.
We’ll know things and do things and explore many new things.
The more that we learn science,
the happier we’ll be.

3. Brainstorm: What are dinosaurs? What did dinosaurs look like? (Some of them were very big, some very small–like lizards and birds). Do you know the name of any dinosaurs? Are there still dinosaurs? (No, they are extinct. Extinct means that there are no more of them on earth. They’ve been extinct for millions of years.)

4. Nonfiction Book: “How Big Were Dinosaurs?” – Lita Judge
*Note: This book is pretty long, so we skipped some of the middle pages and went directly to the T-Rex and ending pages.

5. Song/Dance: “We Are the Dinosaurs” – Laurie Berkner

6. Flannel: Dinosaur, Dinosaur, Are You Behind (Color) Door? from Thrive After Three

7. Action Rhyme: Dinosaurs of Long Ago from Perpetual Preschool

8. Finger Play: 5 Little Dinosaurs Went Out to Play from Sunflower Storytime

One dinosaur went out to play
On a giant fern one day
She had such enormous fun
That she called for another dinosaur to come:

(Raise hands and call loudly: Oh Diiiiiiiiiiiinosaur!
Slap hands on thighs to make “running” sounds.)

Two dinosaurs went out to play….
Three dinosaurs…
Four dinosaurs….

Five dinosaurs went out to play
On a giant fern one day
They had such enormous fun
That they played until the day was done!

9. Fiction Book: “Are the Dinosaurs Dead, Dad?” – Julie Middleton

10. Action Song: All Around the Swamp (to the tune of The Wheels on the Bus) – modified from Sunflower Storytime

Pteranodon’s wings went flap, flap, flap  (flap your arms)
Flap, flap, flap
Flap, flap, flap
Pteranodon’s wings went flap, flap, flap
All around the swamp.

Triceratops’ horns went poke, poke, poke  (put fingers to your forehead and act like you’re poking something)
Poke, poke, poke
Poke, poke, poke
Triceratops’ horns went poke, poke, poke
All around the swamp.

Apatosaurus’ mouth went munch, munch, munch  (make a chomping motion with both hands)
Munch, munch, munch
Munch, munch, munch
Apatosaurus’ mouth went munch, munch, munch
All around the swamp.

Velociraptor’s legs went jump, jump, jump  (jump back and forth)
Jump, jump, jump
Jump, jump, jump
Velociraptor’s legs went jump, jump, jump
All around the swamp.

Tyrannosaurus’ feet went stomp, stomp, stomp  (stomp really big!)
Stomp, stomp, stomp
Stomp, stomp, stomp
Tyrannosaurus’ feet
went stomp, stomp, stomp
All around the swamp.

11. Fiction Book: “Rex Wrecks It!” – Ben Clanton

12. Song/Dance: The Dino Dance-O  (to the tune of the Hokey Pokey) – modified from Perpetual Preschool
*Before we began this song, we handed out pre-cut foam dinosaur feet and had parents help children slip the feet over their shoes. In the song ‘your dino,’ refers to the foam foot. So, you put the dino foot up and down, front and back, and alternately shake your feet from the left to right.*

You put your dino up,
You put your dino down,
You put your dino up,
And you shake it all around.  (turn and wiggle in a circle)
You do the dino dance-o
and you turn yourself around,
stomp twice on the ground.
Dino Dance-o!

You put your dino in front,
You put your dino in back,
You put your dino in front,
and you give your knees a slap.  (slap both knees)
You do the dino dance-o
and you turn yourself around,
stomp twice on the ground.
Dino Dance-o!

You shake your dino like this,
You shake your dino like that,
You shake your dino like this,
And give yourselves a clap.  (clap hands once)
You do the dino dance-o
and you turn yourself around,
stomp twice on the ground.
Dino Dance-o!

You do the Dino Dance-o,
You do the Dino Dance-o,
You do the Dino Dance-o,
That’s what it’s all about!
Dino Dance-o!

13. Lab Time (see Special Instructions and Procedures for more information)
We had four stations for lab time:
-Make a Clay Fossil Print
-Dinosaur Bones
-Decorate Your Dino Feet
-Dino Heights

Handouts: None

Special Instructions and Procedures:
Make a Clay Fossil Print:
We put out a brick of Sculpey clay and an assortment of shells, twigs, leaves, and dinosaur figurines. You simply take a lump of clay off the brick, roll it into a ball, squish it flat with your palm, and then press whichever item you want into it. We recommend having the instructions for baking Sculpey clay on hand, as well as Ziploc bags so participants can easily transport the fragile clay.

img_3876-cropped

Dinosaur Bones:
Participants glue dry penne pasta along the lines of this dinosaur bone template.

img_3874-cropped

Decorate Your Dino Feet:
Put out a variety of markers, sequins, pompoms, feathers, foam shapes, glue, etc. The only objective is to ‘bedazzle’ the plain foam dinosaur feet you gave them earlier.

IMG_3878

Dino Heights:
We used an ~18′ long piece of butcher paper and taped it to the ground. Using measuring tape and a sharpie, we marked off each foot. Using information gathered from the Dino Database, we wrote dinosaur names, heights, lengths, and weights near the corresponding foot marker and put a printed image of the dinosaur next to it. Images were found on Google, printed on white card stock, and cut out. The idea was for a child and parent to lay down next to the chart and see how big they were compared to certain dinosaurs (as well as to see how much taller or smaller some dinosaurs were than they might expect).

IMG_3886

Resources Used:
Sunflower Storytime: Dinosaur ROAR

Thrive After Three: Dinosaur, Dinosaur, Are You Behind (Color) Door?

Mel’s Desk: Dinosaur Flannel Patterns

Perpetual Preschool: Dino Songs

Magic School Bus: Fossil Fun

My Plum Pudding: Nature Sculpture

Busy Bee Kid’s Crafts: Dinosaur Bones

Broogly.com: Dino Feet

Make and Takes: Dinosaur Foot Template

Intentional Storytime: Dinosaurs (Science Storytime)

Dino Database: Dinosaur Records

Additional Resources:
PBS: “That’s Not a Dinosaur” Song

DLTK’s Growing Together: A Big ‘Ol Dinosaur song

Bry-Back Manor: Dinosaur Fingerplays

Hummingbird Educational Resources: Dinosaurs

Indulgy: Easy Dinosaur Fossil Craft

Mrs. Lee’s Kinder Kids: Dinosaurs

To the Moon and Back: Dinosaur Footprint Bookmarks

Rainbow Resources: Dinosaur Bone Game

Strong Start: Pasta Fossils

I Can Teach My Child: Dinosaur Bones

Deceptively Educational: How Big Were the Dinosaurs?

Raising Lifelong Learners: Hands-On Dinosaur Study

Living Life and Learning: Make Your Own Felt Dinosaurs

Easy Peasy and Fun: Dinosaur Coloring Pages

Strong Start: Chalk Cave Drawings

Strong Start: What Colour Were the Dinosaurs?

Not Just Cute: Rhyme-A-Saurus

PreKinders: Dinosaurs Theme

Abby the Librarian: Preschool Lab: Dinosaurs

Never Shushed: STEAM-y Storytime 3: Dinosaurs

The Librarian is on the Loose: Dinosaur Story Time

Perpetual Preschool: Dino Science

Scholastic: Dinosaur-Themed Activities for 3-5 Year Olds

Not Just Cute: Dinosaur, Dinosaur, What Time Is It?

Parenting Science: Preschool Dinosaur Activities

Science Kids: Learn About Dinosaurs

Preschool Powol Packets: Fizzing Dinosaur Eggs

Growing a Jeweled Rose: Magical Hatching Dinosaur Eggs

What we would do differently:
Kids got really into decorating the foam dinosaur feet, so that station took much longer than anticipated. Coupled with the pasta dinosaur bone activity, we went well over our allotted time. Unless you plan a storytime that runs much shorter than 30 minutes, we would suggest eliminating the pasta dinosaur bone activity in favor of the much less messy clay fossil prints. That would also help draw attention to the Dino Heights station, which took a lot of work on our end, but hardly anyone had time to use.

Adaption for older/younger audience:
We did a Paleontology program for 1st-3rd graders that was a bunch of super-messy fun. Please see this post for more information. We do not currently have recommendations for aging up beyond 3rd grade.

One thought on “Week Sixty: STEAM Storytime: Dinosaurs!

  1. […] Dinosaur Storytime includes a great dinosaur song with lots of dinosaur vocabulary; an activity using air-dry clay to make dinosaur prints; and pasta and glue to create a dinosaur skeleton. We could certainly reduce some components and reduce cost – there’s a lot going on here – but see how we can  use simple materials to conduct a really fun, interactive, educational storytime. There’s so much play going on here but there’s a lot of creative learning, too. […]

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