I love Usborne Encyclopedias… if for no other reason than the Internet Links. I have found many wonderful sites that I might never have stumbled upon through their quick-links.
While reading Usborne IL First Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life here are a few of the recommended sites that have helped Bug with his Independent Project on Dinosaurs…
We were on the road for a couple weeks… starting in Philly for my hubby’s cousin’s wedding. We went several days early so the kids could hang out with their cousins and we could check some of the fun things to do in Philly. Unfortunately I’m still having issues with my camera… I really need to have it looked at but who can live without their camera while waiting for service? So none of the wedding shots turned out since my flash is basically unusable.
The thing that we had to do while we were there as predicated by Bug… check out Dinosaur Hall at the Academy of Natural Science. I’m sure no one could have guessed that one… lol.
Although this was not a Liopleurodon (my kids’ favorite… do all kids have a favorite prehistoric sea reptile?) but some other prehistoric sea monster it was really cool to see one up close.
The kids got a chance to dig for dinosaur bone with a small chisel. It would have taken them years to actually get one of those bone out of the waxy composite in the display.
The ANS also had an awesome gecko exhibit. They are such cool little critters.
Then we made our way over to The Franklin Institute for some hand’s on science. Here is Daddy helping the kids operate a large mechanical arm.
They had several very large mechanical art installations.
Bug sitting in the cockpit of an airplane.
We snuck in a trip to a Dairy Farm.
The rest of our time was spent at the pool and parks with the cousins.
And of course there was the wedding. Fairy girl joined the ladies to get her nails done.
Hmm… no the photo below was not me trying to be artsy… I was just desperate to get something from the wedding on film (err in pixels). That blur in the front is Fairy girl dancing. My kids couldn’t wait to hit the dance floor… Bug was literally twitching in his seat to get out there and I had to coax them back at some point to eat a few bites of dinner.
It is more than a little disconcerting to turn the corner at the zoo and come face to face with this…
I couldn’t help but think of Jurassic Park movies and wonder… in whose world does this seem like a good idea?! Well, Bug thought it was totally cool and basically wanted to pet all the dinosaurs. The girls preferred to stay in the safety of the wagon.
The girls enjoyed digging for bones. And they all enjoyed getting a chance to use the remote controlled dinosaur… which of course Bug now wants.
There were a couple stations set up too with additional items of interest. And while listening to Bug interact with one of the guides my husband and I were given a clear example of why standard testing is a far from a reliable means of judging a child’s understanding of a topic. Bug got every dinosaur question she answer correct and filled in with probably more info than she knew (seriously that kid knows more about dinosaurs than I do) but when she tried to get him to compare the Omeisaurus that was set up behind us with a long necked animal that could be found in the zoo today he couldn’t come up with the word giraffe (to be fair he actually had never seen a giraffe before – this is our first year with a zoo pass and we had only done indoor exhibits previously). He did list several other sauropods… heck dinosaurs were in the zoo today, weren’t they. She final fed him the answer and he still looked confused. The context didn’t make sense to him at all. My hubby declared as we headed on that the boy was going to see a giraffe today!
Standing in front of the giraffes Daddy tried to make the connection for Bug with what the lady had been asking in the Dino exhibit. Bug stared at him with his pensive look, the one in which we can actually see the wheels in his head turning. Finally, it clicked and the recognition was there on his face followed by annoyance. "Oh… you meant a MAMMAL long neck." Like, well duh. Why didn’t you just ask the right question? In the Zoo was hardly a usable connection for him… Mammal, Africa, heck a cast member in Madagascar would have given him a true reference point.
Bug got a fun Digging for Dinosaurs Model Kit for his birthday. He first had to dig the bones out of a block of sand. (WARNING – the sand rocks were EVERYWHERE!) Then he assembled his T-rex and painted it. He had a lot of fun with it!
After the paper mache dried completely, I cut off the balloon tails. The balloons pulled away from the inside of the egg. You could try to remove the balloon if you wish, I didn’t bother. Then I made a little paper mache to patch over the holes.
Once that dried, the kids painted their dino eggs. You could try to paint the eggs camouflage colors, but I let the kids pick the colors they wanted. Pixie completely covered hers, Bug went with a speckled theme and Fairy’s was more patchy – using all the colors.
These eggs could be used as fun Easter decorations. Fill a large egg with treats and use it as a pinata or maybe use smaller balloons and fill the eggs with little treats… instead of using plastic eggs.
The kids decided that they wanted to make a dinosaur nest after reading one of the Magic Schoolbus books where Frizzle’s class went looking for Maiasaurus eggs. So it was time to make some paper mache dino eggs.
My mom did this project in her preschool whenever she ran a dino unit. It can be quite messy… of course three kids at the dining room table is nothing compared to the year when I helped in her classroom with 24 students. Yikes! Preschoolers can easily do this project… though in my experience only about 1 in 4 will stick with it long enough to completely cover their egg.
I’ll give you one guess which one of my kiddos completed hers and helped me finish her siblings… Pixie girl of course. You can’t tell me that 2 year olds don’t have amazing attention spans.
You need one balloon per egg, a bowl to set the balloon in, newspaper shredded into long stripes (my kids loved that part) and a basic mixture of paper mache goo (I used approximately 1 part flour to 1 1/2 parts water mix).
Be sure to cover the entire balloon with paper mache, leaving just the knot exposed. (You might want to cover your table first – ours is a second hand table that we plan to refinish at some point in the future so I generally skip that step). Using a bright colored balloon can help you see any gaps. Try not to make it too thick or it will take forever to dry but you do want solid coverage or the egg will collapse when you pop the balloon.
Once the eggs have dried hard (btw – flip them over in the bowl occastionally so all the sides get air) we will paint them… I will post more when we get to that part.
Pixie reading in the Dino Cave.
Bug working on a journal page about T-Rex.
One of the Dino puzzles I keep tripping on.
Bug making Play-Dough Dinos.
Bug learning about how lizards get energy from food.
Bug playing with some Dino models that belonged to his uncle.
Fairy really getting into painting the Boxasaurus (and herself).
Bug is totally getting into the whole "My Project" thing. We have recently moved into the world of dinosaurs and prehistoric animals. While pouring over some prehistoric ZooBook Magazines my mom lent him… Bug came up to me with a activity guide (which I didn’t know was in the set) saying "this is what I’M doing next for my project." He wanted to make a Boxasaurus. Sure, sounds like fun!
We spent several days collecting boxes of various sizes. We raided the garage, basement, recycling bin, etc. Once we had a decent collection it was time to start designing the dinosaur. Bug spent some time just stacking and sorting until he decided to make a T-Rex (not surprising).
I helped him assemble the boxes. He did the glue and I taped the pieces in place to help hold them until the glue set. At this point his Boxasaurus project serendipitously tied in with this week’s Unplugged Challenge theme Balance. The T-Rex was very front heavy and had to lean against the wall until we got the tail in place. What a great lesson in balance and a perfect hands on lesson as to one of the reasons why many animals have tails! He wanted a longer tail on his Boxasuarus but that in turn made him back heavy. In the end we found the perfect balance of tail length to support the head and arms.
Next came the whole family production (and I do mean PRODUCTION) of painting the Boxasaurus. Since painting outside was out of the question (neg 10 not factoring wind chill), we cleared the furniture from the kitchen, set down some plastic bags (lol) and set up shop to paint. Good fun was had by all. AND Thank goodness it was a weekend and Daddy was home to carry the kids directly up to the tub while I cleaned up. The floor was a showcase that would have done Pollock proud. Fortunately Bamaboo cleans up so well!
Once dry, eyes, teeth and glitter (hehe, a well dressed Boxasaurus) were added.
