Dinosaurs

For the past year and a half Sailor has been involved in a preschool group that is Mommy taught.  There are four kids in the group and each week one of the moms teaches the lesson.  We have a curriculum and topics that we arbitrarily created a while back.  It has been a success and a great way for our kids to have something to do that involves  learning some social skills once a week, along with some education. :)

Last week I taught a lesson on dinosaurs.  This lesson was particularly fun because they kids were very intrigued.  As I prepared for the lesson I kept thinking, "Dinosaurs were completely amazing.  And the fact that we have learned everything about them from fossils is quite impressive."  What a weird thing for a child to hear..."Dinosaurs once roamed the earth- we have or will never see them.  Most were huge, bigger than buildings.  Paleontologists find their fossils and puzzle-piece them back together..... "

Like I said, the kids really enjoyed the lesson so I took a few pictures of the fun.  I didn't get a picture of it but we dug for dinosaur bones in a tupperware container full of potato flakes (I didn't have time to find sand).  I printed off a picture of a dinosaur skeleton and cut it up in several pieces and laid it out in proper order underneath the "dirt".  With a paint brush the kids very gently brushed the flakes off of the skeleton to find the whole dinosaur picture. The kids were adorable.  I had never seen a 3 year old be so gentle.  If one got a little to rough they'd keep each other in line by saying, "Be soft!  We don't want to ruin the bones!"

We made dinosaur feet, and this is what Sailor thinks they looked like.

 I asked the kids to show me their dinosaur faces/impression. They didn't slack at the request.

And you can't talk about dinosaurs without mentioning volcanoes! 

The kids were really concerned about how and what was making it explode.  They were fascinated!  They were also very concerned about the little dinosaurs getting hit by hot lava. ha 

Once preschool is over we let the kids run wild while the moms visit and vent to one another about parenting ups and downs. As we sat and chatted we noticed all the kids silently group together in the hallway with books to read and notebooks to draw in.  The second I grabbed my camera a couple kids dispersed but at one point 6-7 kids were sitting side by side- it was cute.