These great dinosaurs were made by Leah 28 and her boys Isaac 3 and Ivar 9 months, for World Dinosaur Day.
What did you do?
Firstly, we made salt dough. I will add the recipe for this at the bottom of the article. Once the dough was made and rolled out, Isaac chose which dinosaurs to make marks with to create the fossils. As the salt dough takes an awful long time to cook, we moved on to some numeracy activities sticking with our theme of the day.
With two categories, Herbivores and Carnivores, Isaac was encouraged to sort his dinosaurs into the appropriate one. He was then asked to look at both and decide on which had more/less. He then counted each group to find out.
Next, numbers 1-10 were laid out and Isaac was encouraged to add the correct amount of dinosaurs to represent each number. This allowed him to better understand of the quantity the numbers represent.
Later that afternoon once the salt dough was cooked and cooled, I set up Isaac’s tuff tray with the fossils, sand, utensils, pens, paper and instructions etc.
He had a ball, digging and brushing away the sand to reveal the mystery below. To support his literacy skills, he then added his findings to his notebook.
SALT DOUGH RECIPE:
Add 1 cup plain flour, 1/2 cup vegetable oil and 1/2 cup water to a bowl and mix.
Roll out and create your prints. If you have the space, cut out each pirce individually before cooking to avoid any breaking after.
Cook on the middle shelf of oven at the lowest temp for at least 3 hours. This will vary on the amount and thickness of the dough so keep an eye and once hatd, it is ready. I left this one in for 6 hours!
Take out and allow to cool before decorating or using.
All the activities Isaac enjoyed on the day worked for him and supported the stage of learning he is at. He had fun and was engaged in his play. What didn’t work was letting his younger brother loose in the room during the number quantity activity! Poor Isaac had to keep replacing the dinosaurs.
What is next?
Isaac has shown a lot of interest in space recently and has asked to learn more. We will be looking at lots of fun ways to satisfy his curiosity and further develop his learning through this topic.
Tell us a bit about yourself…
Leah. I am 28 and Mum of two boys, Isaac who is 3 and Ivar who is 9 months. We live in Scotland with Daddy John and our little dog Oskar.
How are you finding being housebound?
We have been fortunate in the sense that both myself and John are home on furlough throughout this time and so have had eachothers support. With the weather being nice most of the time, keeping busy and utilising the garden have been helpful. The boys are both at very different stahes, and so entertaining them and engaging them has it’s difficulties but on a whole, we have coped well so far.
Do you have any tips for other parents?
My biggest tip is, don’t put too much pressure on yourself. When you can, plan ahead. If you know what your going to do for tomorrow, getting it set up and done is always much easier. Change it up. I find simply moving the boys play areas about, sparks interest again.
