Dinosaurs!

For whatever reason, during this session we have a ton of little boys! Ten boys to six girls, which is really different from what I’m used to. I’m finding that I need a lot more action rhymes/songs to get those wiggles out. Anyway, I decided to cater to my boys and do a dinosaur storytime!

We started off with “The Littlest Dinosaur’s Big Adventure” by Michael Foreman.

I wanted to start off storytime with a quiet one instead of going straight into roaring. I also liked that this story was just about dinosaurs, and didn’t have any people in it. A lot of the books that I previewed were about dinosaurs living with people — which isn’t bad, just not exactly what I wanted. Next, we practiced some shapes with “Shape by Shape” by Suse Macdonald.

I did our flannelboard & song next — “Ten Little Dinosaurs” — which is just the tune of “Ten Little Indians” and dinosaurs. And then we did this action rhyme that I found this poem by Nancy Klein on The Childrens Museum of New Hampshire’s website.

“Dinosaurs”
Spread your arms, way out wide
Fly like Pteranodon, soar and glide
Bend to the floor, head down low
Move like Stegosaurus, long ago
Reach up tall, try to be
As tall as Apatosaurus eating on a tree
Using your claws, grumble and growl
Just like Tyrannosaurus on the prowl

And then we read my favorite dinosaur book: “Dinosaur Vs. Bedtime” by Bob Shea.

While we did enjoy roaring with dinosaur, this one did require a little bit of explanation at the end. The kids weren’t really sure what had happened — why dinosaur had stopped roaring. I had to explain that dinosaur was sooooo tired from roaring that he went to bed! I love this book’s colorful images and vivid dinosaur destroying scenes.

Next, I got to use our brand-new storytime mitt and dinosaurs shapes! So incredibly happy with this purchase.

“Five Funny Dinosaurs”
Five funny dinosaurs letting out a roar.
One went away, and then there were four.
Four funny dinosaurs munching on a tree.
One went away, and then there were three.
Three funny dinosaurs didn’t know what to do.
One went away, and then there were two.
Two funny dinosaurs having lots of fun.
One went away, and then there was one.
One funny dinosaur afraid to be a hero.
He went away, and then there was zero.

And finally, we finished up with “I Dreamt I Was a Dinosaur” by Stella Blackstone and Clare Beaton.

I love Stella Blackstone books. They have simple, rhyming text and always really colorful pictures. This book was done with felt/sequin pictures and is such a great settle down book for the end of storytime. One of my little boys laid down on the rug and put his hands under his head for this one.

“Dinosaur, Dinosaur”
Dinosaur, dinosaur, turn around
Dinosaur, dinosaur, touch the ground
Dinosaur, dinosaur, reach up high
Dinosaur, dinosaur, wink one eye
Dinosaur, dinosaur, touch your nose
Dinosaur, dinosaur, touch your toes
Dinosaur, dinosaur, slap your knees
Dinosaur, dinosaur, sit down please

Our craft project was a super simple one that a co-worker had used for her K-3 dinosaur program — clothespin dinosaur!

Super easy. I glued the eyes down ahead of time; teen volunteers cut out the dinosaur shape. All the kids had to do was color and clip!