The PreK classes at my campus are deep into a dinosaur theme this month. My kids are walking, talking and sometimes ACTING like dinosaurs!
With Valentine's Day fast approaching and all the "LOVE" talk, I wanted to combine the two themes together and focus on some dino-riffic speech and language skills!
We read and re-read (because that's what Preschoolers like to do) How do Dinosaurs say I Love You? by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague (affiliate link).
We played with dinosaurs while playing a hide and seek type of game, working on prepositions: In the mailbox, on the mailbox, behind the mailbox...You get the point.
I made a receptive language Bingo game to work on listening skills, attention, and answering questions. The kids really liked this one because they thought I was trying to trick them. Really I just wanted them to listen and try to problem solve which dinosaur I was describing. I was surprised at which kids really got into this game.
I also made a sheet of dino eggs that we used with articulation drill.
Every time they said their word correctly, they were able to put a heart on their dino egg. This was the day that my sweet 4 yr old princess said, "Ms Dardner, I bat my /k/ up so far I twallowed my tund!" (you should be able to translate this if you are a SLP or around PreK kids at all!) PRECIOUS Girl!
We talked about how you can show love to your family and friends: hugging, smiling, being helpful, with words, kisses (family only!), eating your food, staying with your mom in the store, etc. These are all examples of what the DINOs do NOT do in the story. So as we re-read the story, we pointed out how the dinosaurs were acting unlovable.
Another favorite activity was making their own dinosaurs to put in the hallway. I gave them the big pieces and verbally provided them with instructions for putting it together. This was especially useful for my kids working on following sequential directions: "Before you put on the head, put on the neck." They all turned out similar but unique.
Any more ideas for dinosaur fun? Please leave in the comments below...