Dinosaurs! Dinosaur Teeth Math

Now there's a smile you can't resist! E's teacher told me she needed some extra practice writing her numbers, so instead of giving her practice sheets, I devised this fun (and delicious) math game. I printed out a picture of Buddy from Dinosaur Train and placed a number of candy corn "teeth" on his mouth. E had to count the teeth and write the number down. Then I took away a few and asked her to write down the number of teeth now off the paper. Finally she had to subtract the second number from the first and write down the answer.

When she had done enough equations to cover the basic digits, I switched gears a bit. I placed one dinosaur tooth on the paper and asked her to count the stripes. Then I added a second, then a third, and so on. Each time she had to write down the new number of total stripes. After seven candy corn, I showed her the pattern she had made by counting by threes.

Of course at the end she got the chance to rot out her own teeth with Buddy's. :)

Dinosaur Dream by Dennis Nolan

The illustrations in this book are amazing! The story... not so much.

The premise isn't bad: a little boy discovers a baby dinosaur at his window and decides to walk back through time to return the dinosaur to his home. They journey through the ice age, the time of mammals, and back to the Cretaceous and Jurassic periods, facing dangers in each era. The narration is dry, wordy, and a bit awkward at parts, but the paintings are truly beautiful. It's too bad the author didn't double the illustrations and make this a wordless story. I suggest you use the book as such and let your kids flip through the pages, supplying their own narration on each page.

Dinosaurs! Begin with... D

 

This simple Dinosaur craft is brought to you today by the letter D and the shapes Rectangle and Triangle, with special thanks to our underwriters: Glue, Paper, and Scissors.

Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs by Byron Barton

This seems to be the perfect book for toddlers. E loved it when she was two and three, and A has become just as smitten. I'm honestly not sure what about it inspires such devotion. Is it the bright, bold illustrations? The simple text on each page? The use of opposites to describe the dinosaurs? I don't know, but I do know it's a great first dinosaur book that your little ones will probably love as much as mine do.




I'm linking up to:
- stART @ A Mommy's Adventures

Dinosaurs! How to Raise a Dinosaur

I love being a mom of girls. I love the tea parties, dress up, baby dolls, and all-things-princess. But that means I've missed out on the superheroes, racing cars, trucks and dinosaurs. So we're doing dinosaurs this week, starting with a wonderful new book...

How to Raise a Dinosaur by Natasha Wing

This one is fresh off the presses! When author Natasha Wing contacted me to review a copy of her latest book, I jumped at the chance. It looked adorable, but I had no idea it would be this adorable. As the title suggests, it's a guidebook for the proper care and feeding of a pet dinosaur. What type of dinosaur is right for you? How often do dinosaurs need to be walked? What supplies do you need to raise a dinosaur? Natasha Wing answers these questions and more in this fresh take on the classic lift-the-flap book.

Pablo Bernasconi's illustrations add just the right touch of levity to Wing's tongue-in-cheek narration. Nearly each page contains one (or several) clever flaps for kids to lift and discover delightful surprises. For example, on E's favorite page you fold back the picture of Rex to reveal an x-ray of his body and a drawing of his tiny brain (the exact size and shape of a peanut). She also got a huge kick out of the bite-mark die cuts on several of the pages.

Whether or not your child is a dinosaur fanatic, you're both sure to enjoy this new addition to the genre. The humor is sophisticated enough to delight parents while simple enough for 4 year olds to "get." I can't wait to read it to E's kindergarten class!

MYO Paper Dinos

To go along with the book, I found these great dinosaur printables. I let the girls color the dinosaur and then we cut them out to make these 3D paper dinosaurs.

E's rainbow Triceratops is my favorite.

A did an excellent job coloring outside the lines, leaving her elasmosaurus nearly pristine.

The website has over 20 dinosaur printables, so if your child has a favorite variety, there's a good chance it's there!

Disclaimer: How to Raise a Dinosaur was provided to me courtesy of Running Press free of charge in exchange for a review. This does not in any way influence my review.