Dinosaurs

Good news folks!  We got a camera.  It was at the end of the week, so I don't have pictures of most of our activities still this week, but I'm excited to finally be able to document our life again.

We started out Dinosaur week at the Museum of Natural History in LA.  They have a new Dino exhibit, which was very cool.  There were large touch screen computers with interactive information and games, touch tables with bones and eggs, and lots of dino skeletons on display.

Making Dino Eggs

We used some peanut butter play dough (still in the fridge from butterfly week) to make dinosaur eggs and nests.  I let the kids use skewers make indentions in the eggs.  It is amazing at how play dough can be fun all over again with just a new tool to use.

Digging for Dino Bones

We had ribs for dinner at Vov and Yogi's house last week.  I saved the bones and dried them out, and then buried them in a box of sand.  The kids used small paint brushes to dig them out.  They looked so cool when dry because they turn white and looked old.  You could use any kind of bones you have on hand though.
Brielle was convinced they were actual dinosaur bones.  She kept asking me which dinosaur certain bones came from.  The bigger ones she was sure must be a tyrannosaurus.  The smaller ones, maybe a velociraptor. 
The kids then used these bones and made their own museum.  Gavin organized them into dino-looking exhibits.  Brielle took charge of cleaning the museum to get it ready for the grand opening.

Dinosaur Snack

I used the idea from the amazing mess to make no-bake cookies using 'dinosaur' ingredients.  I love that the kids are so trusting that they believe you are actually using dirt and crushed dinosaur bones to make a treat.  They loved it.

File Folder Games

A story about Dinosaurs with Manners

Dinosaur Bone matching game (with polite things to say to each other)

My sister-in-law was a first grade teacher.  She gave me a lot of these file folder games.  Brielle especially loves doing these kind of activities.

 Books

I had no idea there were dinosaur names that start with every letter of the alphabet.  We learned a lot by reading ABC Dinosaurs.  The kids enjoyed looking at the book and deciding which kind of dinosaur they were as we were playing.  Gavin always wanted to be a meat eater, Ellie a plant eater.

At one point while I was busy cooking dinner or something Ethan was quiet for a while, which usually means trouble.  I went looking for him and found him 'reading' the dino books.  He loved them.

In the future, I saw this idea years ago and it still hangs out in my mind.  I'm waiting for the kids to get a little older with a longer attention span.  Then we will build a whole dinosaur using chicken bones.