Dinosaurs are always a hit with my junior paleontologist so when teaching new concepts or trying to get him to do an activity I feel he may find boring, I will often adapt it to a dinosaur theme to capture his interest and build a enthusiastic platform for learning.
Little learning
As we are currently learning to write, I’ve introduced many more fine motor activities to help exercise those little finger muscles.
I found this interesting image from Mindful Moments showing the difference between a toddler and a school aged child’s hand.
As you can see, the reason why little hands are so clumsy and may find it hard/ tiresome to write, draw or cut is because those little bones need to grow.
This is why fine motor activities play such an important role in preschool lessons.
Roarsome dinosaurs
Opening and closing pegs is a great fine motor activity and can be used in a variety of different manners.
From letting toddlers just peg them onto containers to showing your preschooler how to hang washing with pegs.
There are also a wide variety of fun games using pegs to assist in counting, letter identification and other learning areas on Pintrest.
But how do you keep a very active child busy when they are bored with pegging?
You make dinosaurs of course!
And that is just what I did.
How to make a dinosaur puppet
I made 3 T-Rex whilst Hamish slept and he woke to a fun game trying to get the dinosaurs to open their mouths to Roar and eat me.
You can also have your child put on a small puppet play using these cute puppets.
To make your own you will need:
- Coloured paper or card
- Markers
- Scissors
- Glue or tape
- Pegs
Method:
- Draw a dinosaur on card.
- Cut your dinosaur ( or other animal shape) but cut the mouth section in two so that you have a top and a bottom section.
- Tape or glue the dinosaurs head onto the top part of the peg where it opens to clip.
- Tape or glue the bottom part of the jaw onto the bottom part of the peg where it clips.
- Draw or add any detail
Craft hack – if you are not the best of artists cur an image from a magazine, trace from a colouring book or print one to cut out.
