Co-op: Pre-K Dinosaurs, Week 1

Introduced the topics of dinosaurs and fossils.

Enthusiasm for dinosaurs?  Definitely.

Ability to sit still?  Not so much.  (This is a huge age range, with major developmental differences, too - barely three, all the way to age five, and quite able to lecture me about their favorite dinosaur.)

We made our own handprint "fossils" in salt dough... perhaps not the best idea for "fossils," since most kids decided to continue playing with their dough and ended up with just a glop of it on their plate. ;)  At least they had fun!

Our "fossil rocks" for the dino dig

Something the kids really loved, that also turned out according to plan, was our "dino dig" - I used a "fossil" recipe with instructions from this site ** and made a batch of little "fossils" with miniature dinosaur toys inside.  A Scholar helper scattered them around the sand volleyball court outside, and the kids had a blast looking for them and then chipping the dino toys out!  They ALSO loved getting outside - it was tough to contain all of them and herd them back in.

Oh - on that note, there were five more children attending than were on the registered list.  I was prepared for twelve and thirteen (with nine registered), but not fourteen!  Fortunately, Kiddo was okay with not making a fossil.  He's not real big on getting his hands messy, anyway.  One of the boys missed the fossil part (I think he must have been late), so I made another little batch of dough that week and brought it in for him to make at home the next Friday.

**Note on the recipe: it calls for 1/2 c Plaster of Paris, but I'd increase the PoP slightly, since our "fossils" were still a little on the crumbly side.