Dinosaur Bin

RAWR! RAWR!

RAWR!

—Yumi

Basic Materials:

Materials include: sand made from some cereal and crackers I tossed into the blender, a bag of split peas, some twigs and a few rocks from outside. An egg shaker instrument from her music basket, paintbrush, tongs, a magnifying glass, and some dinosaur friends!

Benefits:

This bin serves as a great introduction to prehistoric life! It allows for exploration and discovery as she investigates the figurines. It supports language development as I point out some basic anatomy she’s grown familiar with (i.e. tail, teeth), and offers a good sensory experience. Yumi spent lots of time scooping, digging, and brushing the sand, getting some fine motor practice in.

How I Interact:

Naming some basic anatomy, minor intervention to keep majority of the sand in the bin, and observing. In addition to the bins, books, music and/or visual aids can also be fun and beneficial for making connections in both a tangible form and linking it to images in books and on screen.

For Yumi at least, I found that when I put on Jurassic Park and matched the animals best I could to the ones on screen as they appeared, she caught on. This worked like a charm for her ocean animal bin and Finding Dory since we had both the clownfish and blue tang fish that are Marlin, Nemo, and Dory in her ocean animal “Toob” kit.

BONUS

Dinosaur Bone Excavation!

As an added feature or activity it may be fun to add in some dinosaur bones! An activity that can be done by hiding them in the sand, letting them scoop, dig, and brush it away to uncover the bones. Much like a paleontologist would! I’ve found some decent looking kits on Amazon, and Safari Ltd has a good Dinosaur Skull “Toob” kit, also available on Amazon.com.