Dinosaur Activity Sensory Play

#playful preschool dinosaur theme week

 

Hands-On Learning With Multi Media Sensory Play

This week the Playful Preschool Team members are each sharing an awesome dinosaur activity to get your dinosaur week started! I always like to add a sensory element to our learning activities. For this dinosaur activity, I made a quick slime (yes, it’s quick!). Slime has been our thing this Fall and I am so happy he loves to play with it. This dinosaur activity has a great slime volcano as part of it’s small world set up. (what’s the difference between a sensory bin and a small world? Click here!) Last time we made a dinosaur small world with a baking soda volcano (click here). Hope you enjoy this dinosaur activity and make sure to check out what the rest of the Playful Preschool team is up to!

What Is Slime?

I know we are all about the dinosaurs this week, but slime is science too! Is it a liquid or a solid? It stretches but then it breaks. It makes a ball and bounces. It feels slimy and wet, but it isn’t! These are some of the interesting observations my five year old made as we explored this slime recipe. Read a little more in depth here about polymers and chemistry. We aren’t quite there yet but sure had a lot of fun just the same! Get start sand make easy slime today!

Dinosaur Activity Set Up And Prep

This slime is super easy, visit my super easy slime post for the recipe and instructions (note you will use red food coloring instead of green!). Just three ingredients found in the supermarket and you are all set! Less then 5 mins!

Supplies Needed:

• Slime (water, liquid starch, glue, and food coloring (recipe here)
• Baking pan or some type of container to hold materials and create small world
• Cup or glass flipped upside down to serve as volcano base
• Glass gems
• Rocks
• Aquarium plants
• Dinosaur Toob
• Favorite Dinosaur books (see our links below)
• Ipad or smartphone for YouTube videos (optional but works well for us!)

Note: This slime should not stain your hands!

Craft stores and even the dollar store have rocks and gems that are usually used as vase fillers. I had picked up these aquarium plants at the pet store awhile back for an ocean sensory bin (awesome re-use of materials)! Initially, I had him color a paper cup to serve as a base for our volcano. However, the marker bled onto the slime, so we switched to a little mason jar. We simply manipulated the slime to get rid of the marker color.

Here’s the video we enjoyed a few times. It’s quick and great for young kids. We also spent some time reading together to round out our hands0on learning time together. Tactile, visual, and auditory sensory play made this dinosaur activity perfect for our afternoon time together.

Dinosaur Activity Small World Sensory Play 

He has been really into touching the slime and playing with it in more ways. I have a feeling that I have made it so much that he is now growing used to the consistency. Great lesson to try and try again if it doesn’t go well the first time, but I never push him to touch it! We talked about how the asteroid hit where the dinosaurs lived and what happened because of the impact and how the dinosaurs became extinct. However, he liked pretending the lava was a swimming pool.

He noticed how the dinosaurs left marks in the slime, so we transferred the slime to a cookie sheet so he could explore his idea a little more. I will have to admit this was great for making fossils! Of course unlike play dough, the imprint would slowly disappear which he he said was all about being extinct, disappearing.

Simple sensory small world fun in one easy dinosaur activity. Lots of great learning through play!

Playful Preschool Team

 Dinosaur Activities for Preschool by the ‪#‎PLAYfulPreschool‬ Education Team

Dinosaur Math Play by The Educators’ Spin On It

Dinosaur Dig for Fossil Puzzles by Mom Inspired Life

Dinosaur Theme for Preschool: Hatching DINO Eggs – Early Math & Science.by The Preschool Toolbox

Dinosaur Activities: Beginning Sound Fossil Matching by Growing Book by Book

Classification and Sorting of Dinosaurs by Rainy Day Mum

Can You Be A Dinosaur? by Learning 2 Walk

Dinosaur Sensory Play by Still Playing School

Dino-Gourd Dinosaur Egg Hunt by Capri + 3

Dinosaur Hatching by Tiny Tots Adventures

Dinosaur Hunting with Paint by Powerful Mothering

Hands-on Play-based Dinosaur Activities by Raising Lifelong Learners

Backyard Dinosaur Dig by The Kennedy Adventures

More Of Our Awesome Dinosaur Activities 

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