Playing with STEM: Dinosaurs

Hi Everyone! This program is called Playing with STEM. It is a STEM program for 2-5 year olds. It is primarily play, because at that age, I just want to make science, technology, engineering and math fun!

In this program we learned about dinosaurs. There were stations all around the room that the kids visit with their parents. Each station had a sign to give some instructions and a fun fact. This post includes two sessions. The first group of items is from the second session and were presented in addition to many of the stations from the first session. Here are the dinosaur stations:

Second Session of Dinosaur Playing with STEM

Dinosaur Dig Revisited
For this version of the dinosaur dig, I 3D printed cookie stamps and used those as the fossils in the sand. I used the file here from Thingiverse and printed in in brown. The children used paint brushes to clean off the sand to discover the fossils.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6277978

Counting Dinosaurs
For math, the children matched the pictures of dinosaurs to the number.

Matching Dinosaurs
The children matched the dinosaur to their card. These can be purchased on Amazon here .

Build a Dinosaur
The children built dinosaurs. These can be purchased on Amazon here .

First Session of Dinosaur Playing with STEM

Dinosaur Tracks
There were five sets of dinosaur tracks for the kids to follow. At the end of the path was a picture of the dinosaur.

Fossil Dig
The children could use tools and paintbrushes to find dinosaurs (plastic and made of salt dough) in bins of sand.

Dinosaur Hunt
The children used binoculars to look for dinosaurs from a checklist hidden around the room.

Dinosaur Sticker Art

The children placed dinosaur stickers on a background.

Stomp Like a Dinosaur
The children used walking buckets to walk like a dinosaur.

Dinosaur Measuring
Children used blocks to measure the height and length of dinosaurs. There were four dinosaurs labeled with numbers.

What Do Dinosaurs Eat?
The children learned about herbivores and carnivore dinosaurs. There were two of each puppet and they could eat the leaves or the felt “meat”.