Raise your hand if you have some dinosaur-lovers in your room! Dinosaurs are such an engaging topic to use in your classroom lessons. Little learners everywhere will perk up with excitement at the mere mention of these lizard-like beasts! Today, let’s bring that engagement to the classroom with dinosaur activities I know you and your students will love!

Why Dinosaur Activities will be a Hit in Your Room

Never used a dinosaur theme in your room before? You’re in luck… with dinosaur activities, you’re about to see engagement soar! Young students find these prehistoric creatures absolutely fascinating and that means they are perfect to use in your classroom! After all, that’s exactly why I’m such a big fan of using thematic teaching in my room. When we choose fun and exciting themes to base our lessons around, students actively participate and, in turn, learn so much more!

There is so much to learn about dinosaurs and a plethora of resources out there on this topic. There’s so much out there that it can even feel a bit overwhelming at times. If you’re not sure where to start or where to look for developmentally appropriate resources for this topic, never fear! I’ve done the heavy lifting for you and created a round-up of all my favorite dinosaur activities and books all in one place. Let’s dive and start planning together!

Dinosaur Activities to Introduce this Topic

Whenever we start a new unit, I really like to take my time with the introduction. We spend some time together as a whole group talking about what the students already know about this topic, what they’d like to learn, and any other fun facts they want to share. You can open this up as a simple group conversation, or try making an anchor chart to record information as you go. Make sure to spend some time digging in here though! This is where you’ll build anticipation for what’s to come and gauge which types of dinosaurs your students might be most interested in learning about.

I also like to use resources such as educational videos for my initial introduction. There are so many fantastic (free!) videos on YouTube to help facilitate learning. One of my favorites is this one from Learn Bright. It uses simple, easy-to-understand language, perfect for primary students, and covers all the basics that students should know about dinosaurs. They will learn about the history of dinosaurs, what a paleontologist is, how the dinosaurs were named, and more. This video will serve as a great introduction to your dinosaur activities.

Dinosaur Books

Picture books and read alouds are another way that I like to introduce new topics in my room. I have a huge collection of picture books for just about any topic you can think of, but I’m also a big fan of heading to the library to see what I can find. If you need some inspiration for dinosaur books to use in your room, be sure to check out this list on Amazon. I’ve put all of my favorite dinosaur books together and there’s a little something for everyone.

My Favorite Dinosaur Books

Colorful World of Dinosaurs by Matt Sewell gives a beautiful introduction to these incredible creatures. This book has bright, vibrant, watercolor pictures as well as fun facts and descriptions for each type of dinosaur.

Bones, Bones, Dinosaur Bones by Byron Barton is a story of six paleontologists and their quest for dinosaur fossils! Follow along as they discover dinosaur bones, study them, and prepare them for a museum.

Dinosaurs by Gail Gibbons is a great book to work through over the course of a few days. Inside you will find tons of great information about dinosaurs that will fascinate your students! This book provides information about different types of dinosaurs that existed in the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods and has plenty of illustrations to help support learning.

Dinosaurs in Space by Todd Sturgell is a really interesting book to add to your collection! This book explores how dinosaurs might have ended up in space and why fossils very likely could be found on the moon. This book is filled with interesting facts and written with a humorous tone that your students will enjoy.

Dinosaur Activities for Classroom Learning

Once you’ve introduced this topic and stocked up on fun picture books, it’s time to consider what type of lessons you want to include. As I mentioned above, I am a big fan of thematic teaching. What this means for me is that I choose a specific topic or theme that we will use for a week or two and then base all of our activities around it. So not only will we explore factual information in our dinosaur activities, but we’ll also use themed math and literacy centers, dinosaur writing prompts, and even make some dinosaur crafts too. I find that this structure is FUN for students and keeps engagement high since we switch themes frequently.

I use an all-in-one Dinosaur Unit for exploring this topic in my room. Inside, I’ve got tons of great resources that my students absolutely love. Best of all though, this style of teaching makes it super simple to plan. With everything I need to cover math, writing, science, ELA, fine motor, and more in one place – lesson planning is a breeze! This unit is BIG, so there’s lots to choose from. Let’s take a closer look at some of the fun activities in this unit.

Dinosaur Activities for Math & Literacy Centers

Center time is the best time, right? My kids certainly think so! And who could blame them? This is usually when the hands-on learning activities and games come out to play. Inside my Dinosaur Unit, there are tons of great activities that are perfect for practicing important math and literacy skills. Here are some of my favorites:

• CVC Word Roll & Cover 
• Dinosaur CVC Games 
• Baby Dino Rhyming Activity
• Search & Find Sight Words 
• Dino Prepositions 
• Dinosaur Bone Measuring 
• Roll & Cover 
• Dinosaur Shapes
• Roll & Trace 
• Spin & Cover 
• Dinosaur Addition 
• Dino Teeth Subtraction 

With a wide variety of activities to choose from, there are plenty of options for your group! And as an added bonus, students will have so much fun with these activities, they won’t even know they’re learning. These work for more than just center time too. Many of the games and activities are perfect for morning tubs or early finisher activities, small groups, independent learning, and even partner activities.

Dinosaur Writing and Crafts

I am always looking for ways to boost engagement when it comes to writing. In my Dinosaur Activities Unit, I’ve included some of my students’ favorite writing activities for a variety of skill levels. There are vocabulary tracing activities, dinosaur labeling pages, “Would You Rather?” writing prompts, and directed drawing activities that students will absolutely love. My favorite thing in this unit though is the dinosaur writing craft! There are 3 different versions, so students can choose which dinosaur they’d like to make and write down some of the facts they learned.

More Dinosaur Activities

The fun doesn’t end here, friends! I told you this Dinosaur Unit was huge! Inside you get over 1,300 pages of learning resources to craft an engaging and fun dinosaur themed lesson plan. Aside from the things I mentioned above, you also get:

• Non-Fiction Reading Passages
• Non-Fiction Mini Readers 
• Rock Observations
• Fossils & Gems Sorting Activity 
• Color, Cut & Glue Dinosaur Pages 
• Q-Tip Painting Pages and more!

This comprehensive Dinosaur Unit will make it simple, fast, and easy to plan dinosaur lessons for your class. If you’re looking for a one-stop-shop to make this process a little easier make sure to head over to my store and check it out.

Make a Mini Dinosaur World Sensory Tub

Another one of my favorite dinosaur activities to include while we explore this topic is a mini dinosaur world sensory tub. Students in the primary grades have BIG imaginations. I like presenting them with opportunities to explore, imagine, and dream – especially when it comes to this topic. Consider building a mini sensory tub for them to use for pretend play. Fun things to include are:

• sand/rocks
• mini plastic dinosaurs
• mini plastic dinosaur bones
• mini plastic trees, shrubs, landscape pieces, etc.
• tools for “digging up” dinosaurs bones

You can find all of these things at your local dollar store. Grab a small, shallow plastic tub or tray with high sides and create a fun, prehistoric scene for students to play with. Or, you can fill it with only sand, dinosaur bones, and tools to allow students a chance to play paleontologist. For just a few dollars and very little effort, you can encourage creative thinking, and imaginative play, and provide your students will a sensory experience they will absolutely love!

Fill in the Gaps with No-Prep Dinosaur Activities

We’ve covered introductions, books, thematic teaching resources, and even sensory experiences! Last on my list of dinosaur activities are perfect for filling in any gaps you might have in your lesson plan and require little effort to use. . . No-Prep Dinosaur Color by Code pages! These are classroom MVPs in my opinion because they are super engaging and so easy to weave into our lesson plan. Anytime I need a way to squeeze in a little extra practice, these come to my rescue.

Inside this bundle, you get pre-made pages for practicing letter identification, number recognition, sight words, and number sense skills. These pre-filled pages are perfect for quick and easy no-prep learning activities in your room. Use them for morning work, independent learning activities, homework, or even as activities for fast finishers. I like to print a bunch of these to keep on hand throughout the week.

As an added bonus, there are also editable options included in this resource that are great if you’d prefer to add your own skills. The resource comes with simple and easy directions on how to edit the pages too, so don’t worry – they will be ready in a flash! Give these a try if you’re looking for ways to weave some additional skills practice into your dinosaur activities.

Make Learning About Dinosaurs Fun in Your Room!

I hope this post served as a good source of inspiration as you begin planning your own dinosaur activities! Have fun studying this topic with your kiddos and, don’t forget, if you need some no-stress, streamlined activities for this topic, you can always find them in my shop! Happy learning!

Save These Dinosaur Activities for Later

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