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Montessori-Inspired Dinosaur Unit

August 18, 2011 By Deb Chitwood 29 Comments

 

Montessori-Inspired Dinosaur UnitDinosaurs are fascinating for many children and can be an excellent unit study for the beginning of the school/homeschool year. You can emphasize science, history, or any other subject, and it’s easy to find hands-on dinosaur materials.

Of course, you can include dinosaurs as part of a systematic study of animals starting with living/non-living; then plant/animal; animals and their groups; vertebrate/invertebrate; types of vertebrate/types of invertebrate, etc. Montessori at Home shows an example of Montessori zoology classification. You could introduce dinosaurs when you study reptiles.

Or you could introduce dinosaurs with a series of living/non-living/once-living activities like the unit at Kingdom of the Pink Princesses. Young children often enjoy an emphasis on digging for fossils and paleontology terminology as well. You can introduce a dinosaur unit now or any time during the school year, adding activities according to your child’s interests and developmental needs.

Here are some great Montessori-inspired resources that can be used for multi-age learning.

Montessori-Inspired Dinosaur Preschool Printables

Free Dinosaur Cards from Montessori Print Shop

Free Dinosaur Cards from Montessori Print Shop

Montessori Print Shop has free and inexpensive dinosaur cards.

Montessori-Inspired Dinosaur Activities for Preschoolers through Early Elementary

Dinosaur "Excavation" Site (Photo from Family FECS)

Dinosaur “Excavation” Site (Photo from Family FECS)

Family FECS has a dinosaur “excavation” site using dinosaur figurines (photo at top of post).

Nurturing the Tender Years has dinosaur digging (for dinosaur skeletons), greater than-less than dinosaur worksheet printable, and dinosaur writing practice.

Caminen Plegats has fossil footprint activities (use the Google translator in the right sidebar).

Measuring Dinosaurs Activity (Photo from Counting Coconuts)

Measuring Dinosaurs Activity (Photo from Counting Coconuts)

Counting Coconuts has a dinosaur unit with lots of activities.

Matching Dinosaurs with Dinosaur Facts (Photo by Julie at The Adventures of Bear)

Matching Dinosaurs with Dinosaur Facts (Photo by Julie at The Adventures of Bear) The blog is no longer available.

Montessori-Inspired Dinosaur Fun with Printables, Water Beads, and Glass Gems

I have a post with Montessori-Inspired dinosaur fun with printables, water beads, and glass gems.

Montessori Mama has dinosaur color sorting and other dinosaur activities.

Oh! The Things You’ll Know … has a number of creative dinosaur activity trays.

My Little Princess World has lots of Montessori-inspired dinosaur activities.

Make Fossils from Montessori at Home!

I have a post called Make Fossils from Montessori at Home! with activities from an excerpt of John Bowman’s Montessori at Home eBook.

Montessori-Inspired Dinosaur Activities Using Replicas

I have a post with Montessori-Inspired Dinosaur Activities Using Replicas. I share a number of Montessori-inspired activities created using Safari Ltd. Dinosaur TOOBS and Montessori Print Shop materials.

Free Dinosaur Printables and Montessori-Inspired Dinosaur Math Activities

I have a post with Free Dinosaur Printables and Montessori-Inspired Dinosaur Math Activities (plus a related post at PreK + K Sharing).

 

Dinosaur Ice Melt Science Experiment for Toddlers and Preschoolers

I have a post with a fun dinosaur science experiment.

The Pinay Homeschooler has dinosaur posts with lots of creative activities.

The Arrowood Zoo has a dinosaur unit.

There are lots of links to dinosaur resources at Montessori Mom.

Montessori-Inspired Dinosaur Resources for Elementary-Age and Older

For elementary-aged kids, you could focus on the Great Lessons “God Who Has No Hands” and “Coming of Life” as well as the Clock of Eras and Timeline of Life.

Moteaco has information on God Who Has No Hands, Coming of Life, and Timeline of Life.

Miss Barbara has pages with many helpful links: The Montessori Great Lesson Page and Web Page Sites for Montessori Students.

Wikisori has information on the Clock of Eras and the Timeline of Life.

Fossils-Facts-and-Finds.com has free materials for the Clock of Eras and the Timeline of Life.

Montessori Research and Development has teacher manuals you can purchase with detailed information on Montessori elementary history.

North American Montessori Center has a free Clock of Eras (history sample) and Montessori elementary manuals available for purchase.

Toilet Paper Timeline (Image from Montessori Muddle)

Toilet Paper Timeline (Image from Montessori Muddle)

Montessori Muddle has the Toilet Paper Timeline of Earth History along with lots of dinosaur information for middle and high school.

More Ideas for a Dinosaur Unit Study on Pinterest

Follow Deb @ Living Montessori Now’s board Dinosaur Unit Study on Pinterest.
On Pinterest, I have more resources for a dinosaur unit study for many age levels. The resources aren’t all Montessori resources, but there are many wonderful ideas to choose from to fit into a dinosaur unit.

Have fun individualizing dinosaur activities for your child or students! 🙂

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Filed Under: Activities - Cultural, Homeschooling, Unit Studies Tagged With: dinosaur unit, homeschool, Montessori, Montessori-inspired dinosaur unit, paleontology, The Great Lessons, unit study

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Leptir says

    August 18, 2011 at 7:41 am

    I love it 🙂
    I mentioned your post on my Facebook page:
    http://www.facebook.com/pages/Leptir/156893877945

    Reply
    • Deb says

      August 18, 2011 at 2:42 pm

      Thanks, Natasa! I appreciate your linking to my post! 🙂

      Reply
  2. Jessica says

    August 18, 2011 at 7:47 pm

    HI Deb,

    I love your site.

    Just did a dinosaur-themed week. Can’t wait to try out the other ideas when my LO a little older 🙂

    Reply
    • Deb says

      August 18, 2011 at 8:01 pm

      Thanks so much for your kind comment, Jessica! I’ll look forward to getting to know you better! 🙂

      Reply
  3. Elle ( says

    August 21, 2011 at 10:45 am

    This is a great activity. My daughter’s have sensory boxes that they love, so this activity would be taking it to the next level. Thank you for sharing.

    Reply
    • Deb says

      August 21, 2011 at 2:08 pm

      Thanks, Elle! My kids always loved digging for fossils in a cornmeal sensory box, and any variation is lots of fun! 🙂

      Reply
  4. Martianne says

    August 21, 2011 at 7:02 pm

    This post is so timely for us as our son, who went through a several year dinosaur obsession and then, one day, decided he did not like them anymore, has just as capriciously, decided he is fascinated with them again. In fact, he just spent hours in the tubby playing with figurines. So, you can bet I will be checking out your links. Thanks!

    Also, another easy idea that is pictured at my blog at http://traininghappyhearts.blogspot.com/2009/09/jammies-school-part-two.html but not described well is this one:

    As a sorting activity, offer your child an assortment of dinosaur figurines and sandpaper numbers for 2 and 4. after tracing the numbers with fingers, have your child sort the biped and quadraped dinos onto the appropriate number.

    We also did some phonics work using the same concept. I took out all the sandpaper letters that had sounds which the dino figurine names started with. Luke sorted the figurines onto the appropriate starting letters.

    Fun stuff!

    Reply
    • Deb says

      August 21, 2011 at 8:17 pm

      Thanks so much, Martianne! Those are wonderful ideas! I LOVE the biped and quadruped dinosaur/numeral matching. Matching dinosaur figurines with sand paper letters was a popular activity when my son was little, too! 🙂

      Reply
  5. hoLLy says

    August 21, 2011 at 7:43 pm

    super fun! great blog! pretty soon i’ll have a little guy playing with dinosaurs(my husband is excited-we have 3 daughters and finally had a boy this year) )

    i’m a new gfc follower, facebook liker, networked blog follower…i just clicked on everything on your sidebar basically:) hope you’ll stop by my site and follow back!! 🙂 thanks!

    Reply
    • Deb says

      August 21, 2011 at 8:20 pm

      Thanks for your kind comment, Holly! And thanks for following me! Congrats on your baby boy … how fun for you and your husband to have both girls and a boy! I’ll be on my way to visit your blog shortly! 🙂

      Reply
  6. Daisy says

    August 22, 2011 at 1:38 pm

    Thanks a lot! We are doing this next having gone to the museum this weekend! xxx

    Reply
    • Deb says

      August 25, 2011 at 7:34 pm

      Thanks, Daisy! What a perfect time to do a unit study on dinosaurs! Have fun! 🙂

      Reply
  7. Callie Feyen says

    August 24, 2011 at 4:08 pm

    Every time I read your posts I think how thorough and resourceful you are! Thanks so much for sharing what is a wealth of information. Both my daughters LOVE dinosaurs and these will be very helpful for us!

    Reply
    • Deb says

      August 25, 2011 at 7:35 pm

      Thanks so much for your kind comment, Callie! I hope you find lots of the links helpful! 🙂

      Reply
  8. Aimee says

    August 24, 2011 at 9:19 pm

    My niece can literally tell you every dinosaur that was ever discovered! Remember growing up and there was like 10- maybe? Great post and very educational! As always thank you so much for linking up to The Sunday Showcase!

    Reply
    • Deb says

      August 25, 2011 at 7:39 pm

      Thanks so much, Aimee! It is amazing that even the names have changed in recent years. We used Brontosaurus instead of Apatosaurus when I started teaching preschool. 🙂

      Reply
  9. Our Country Road says

    September 27, 2011 at 10:10 am

    Fantastic collection of links and ideas, as always! Love your ability to find the best!

    Reply
    • Deb says

      March 11, 2012 at 8:09 pm

      Thanks so much … I just found this! 🙂

      Reply
  10. Airamty says

    March 9, 2012 at 8:04 pm

    Thanks Deb for adding us to your amazing collection of ideas.!

    Reply
    • Deb says

      March 11, 2012 at 8:10 pm

      My pleasure, Airamty! And thank you for your great variety of dinosaur activities! 🙂

      Reply
  11. Cassie says

    July 18, 2012 at 5:32 am

    Love this! More fun things i can do with my Dinosaur pack!

    Reply
    • Deb says

      July 31, 2012 at 1:04 pm

      Thanks, Cassie! That’s so true … a lot of the activities would work perfectly with your awesome Dinosaur Pack! 🙂

      Reply
  12. Annie says

    November 11, 2012 at 7:34 am

    These dinosaurs look like so much fun and a great educational tool for children and their teachers and of course, parents too!

    Reply
    • Deb says

      February 2, 2013 at 11:46 pm

      Thanks so much for your kind comment, Annie! (I just found it.) 🙂

      Reply
  13. Jen Fischer says

    November 11, 2012 at 6:56 pm

    This dinosaur post is a great resource. I will definitely be referencing it for some activities with my 3 yo. He really likes dinosaurs. We had fun this Spring creating dinosaurs from our compost bin. http://jennifischer.blogspot.com/2012/05/we-love-composting-dinosaurs.html

    Reply
    • Deb says

      February 2, 2013 at 11:48 pm

      I just found your comment, Jen. Thanks so much! Your post is a great idea … I pinned it. 🙂

      Reply
  14. Danielle Prielipp says

    January 23, 2013 at 8:07 am

    This could be a fun article to use as a compliment to a Dinosaur Unit. It investigates whether or not Jurassic Park could happen in real life!

    http://everydayeinstein.quickanddirtytips.com/could-jurassic-park-really-happen.aspx

    Reply
    • Deb says

      February 2, 2013 at 11:49 pm

      Thanks for your comment, Danielle! That is an interesting question. 🙂

      Reply
  15. Sarah says

    May 30, 2013 at 5:21 am

    We are going to start a dinosaur theme soon and you have collected a wonderful variety of activities that I am sure I can pull from. Thank you!

    Reply

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