Digging Up Jurassic Dinosaurs - Poppins Book Nook May

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We are having lots of fun with the Poppins Book Nook blog series. This month's theme was DINOSAURS. We used two books for our mini Dino unit study - Digging Up Dinosaurs and Chronicles of Dinosauria! Below you will find the books we have been using, videos we have been watching, resources we have used and crafts we have made.

J is for Jurassic!

What child isn't fascinated by Dinosaurs...actually what adult isn't fascinated with Dinosaurs? We had a blast with our our mini Dinosaur unit study this month.

Books:
We used two books one presented Dinosaur facts from an evolutionary view the other from a Christian biblical view. We are Christians however I do not strictly use Christian resources in our homeschool. We personally believe it is very important for our children to understand all viewpoints, theories, religions, etc.

Digging Up Dinosaurs was a great book and presented lots of great information about where Dinosaur skeletons come from and how they  end up inside museums. The book describes how paleontologists and other scientists discover, dig up, transport and assemble the gigantic discoveries.

Chronicles of Dinosauria is a new book by Master Books. We received this book to review because I am part of the Moms of Master Books review team. This book is loaded with great facts about the history and mystery of Dinosaurs and Man. It is a beautifully illustrated 84 page hard back book. The following topics are covered: The Creation and the Dinosaurs, The Flood and the Dinosaurs, Fossil Evidence of Dinosaurs and Man, Historical Evidence of Dinosaurs and Man, Artistic Evidence of Dinosaurs and Man, Cryptozoology Evidence of Dinosaurs and Man, Biblical Evidence of Dinosaurs and Man, Apologetics and Conclusion. Even the Loch Ness Monster and Dragons are discussed in this fabulous book. I am so glad there are books like this available. My children are always full of great questions, which I don't always know the answers too. So it is nice to have valuable resources that can help me answer them and help us discuss the many different theories that exsist. We loved this book very much and it will be one we read over and over again. Be sure to check out the Genesis Park Website for more great information.

Learning On The Road:
We have been on the road traveling, exploring and attending two Teach Them Diligently homeschool conventions this month. So we really had to squeeze our mini Dinosaur unit into a  couple of days (we traveled a total 14 days this month). When possible I tried to tie in things we saw on our travels into our unit. At the Nashville Zoo we found fossils in the children's playground area. We also talked about how many of the large lizards we have around still today were most likely also around during the Jurassic period.

For the long car ride I bought the kids a Dinosaur coloring book at Dollar Tree. I also printed a few free worksheets (see below).

Vocabulary:
The kids learned lots of new words...we also reviewed some words they already knew.
-Paleontologist
-Cryptozoology
-Amber
-Carbon Dating
-Fossil
-Carnivore
-Herbivore
-Reptile
-Behemoth
-Coprolites
-Extinct
-Preserved
-Dinosauria
-Geologist

We also learned about Mary Ann Mantell who found the first dinosaur fossil in England.

Dinosaurs We Learned About:
-Basilosaurus
-Acrocanthosaurus
-Pterosaur
-Plesiosaur
-Megalania
-Leviathan
-Apatosaurus
-Iguanodon
-Triceratops (we learned Tri means 3)
-Corythosaurus
-Tryannosaurus

Printables:
-Dinosaur PreK-K pack
-Homeschool Share Dinosaur lapbook
-Dinosaur dot to dots
-Dinosaur coloring pages
-Dinosaur worksheets
-Education.com Dinosaur worksheets
-Dinosaur notebooking pages

Hands On Projects:
We did a few fun hands on projects to help reinforce what we were learning about Dinosaurs. The kids favorite project was the Dinosaur Dig.

The dig was super simple to put together. I mixed Plaster of Paris (I ran out and had to improvise), flour, sand and dirt together with some water and filled a plastic shoe box container. I followed these directions on eHow for mixing the flour. Next I pushed a Dinosaur skeleton, sea shells and plastic Dinosaur toys down into the mixture. I let it harden for a few days outside on our porch. Warning if you do it this way it will stink. I loved how it turned out and was glad I had to improvise because it was way more fun than just doing Plaster of Paris. The block was crumbly, smelly and had lots textures (and even some bugs) just like a real Dinosaur dig would. Of course every Paleontologist needs tools, so I purchased a few paint brushes, a chisel, a screw driver, rope and scrub brush at Dollar Tree. Yes I even roped off the dig site!

After the kids finished the dig they had to put together the Dino skeleton...it was a little tricky because it is missing pieces (just like a real skeleton probably is).

Afterwards the kids drew pictures of what they thought their Dino discovery would have looked like. They also named them, gave them a habitat and described the kinds of food they ate. Rowyn named his Dinosaur a Rowynasaurus and Gwyn named hers a Rockeosaurus.

At the zoo in Nashville we also picked up some Dinosaur dung aka Coprolites and a Dinosaur that when put into water grows 600%!

Here is a video showing just how much fun we had!!!!

YouTube Videos:

And we watched some videos Dinosaurs on YouTube. We also watched our Dino Dan DVD during our road trip!

Here is a list of the wonderful bloggers participating in the Poppins Book Nook be sure to visit them for more fun Dinosaur themed ideas:

Enchanted Homeschooling Mom - Royal Baloo - 3 Dinosaurs - Monsters Ed - Chestnut Grove Academy - Growing in God's Grace - Royal Little Lambs - Life with Moore Babies - Teach Beside Me - The Usual Mayhem - Mum Central - Fantastic Fun and Learning - Kathys Cluttered Mind - Play Create Explore - Toddler Approved - Growing Book by Book - Adventures in Mommydom - B-Inspired Mama - The Fairy and The Frog - Edventures with Kids - Learning & Growing the Piwi way - A Gluten Free Journey - Mom to Crazy Monkeys - No Doubt Learning - Preschool Powol Packets - To The Moon and Back - Our Craft ~N~ Things - Farm Fresh Adventures - Proverbial Homemaker

Linking up with: Look What We Did , Ben and Me