Preschool Dinsosaur Theme

Explore a variety of preschool Dinosaur themed activities. This page is packed with  learning objectives, and fun, hands-on ideas for small group, whole group, and independent learning centers to support your early childhood program.

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• Theme Planning
• Activities
  • Art & Creativity
  • Dramatic Play
  • Small World Play
  • Language & Literacy
  • Math
  • Science & STEM
  • Physical Development
  • Social & Emotional
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Preschool Dinosaur Lesson Planning Ideas

Below, you'll find our Theme Map outlining key topics to explore, suggested learning objectives to guide your lessons, and a Free Activity Plan! Pre-K Printables Club Members can download their Dinosaur Planning Guide and all of our printable resources including instruction pages for free inside our Activity Library! Not a member? Learn More Here!

Here’s a list of preschool learning objectives for a “Dinosaur” theme, organized by developmental domain:

Language & Literacy

• Develop vocabulary related to dinosaurs (e.g., herbivore, fossil, extinct, volcano).
• Listen to and retell dinosaur-themed stories using key details.
• Identify characters, setting, and major events in dinosaur books.
• Engage in conversations by asking and answering questions about dinosaurs.
• Recognize and name letters or beginning sounds in dinosaur-related words.
• Participate in shared writing activities (e.g., create a class “Dino Fact Book”).

Cognitive (Math, Science, Thinking Skills)
Math:

• Sort dinosaurs by size, color, or type.
• Count and compare quantities using dinosaur toys or counters.
• Create and extend simple patterns with dinosaur footprints or stickers.
• Measure “dinosaur bones” using nonstandard units (e.g., blocks, cubes).
• Understand spatial concepts (e.g., above, below, next to) through dino-themed games.

Science:

• Explore the concept of fossils and how they form.
• Learn the difference between herbivores and carnivores.
• Understand that dinosaurs lived a long time ago and are now extinct.
• Conduct a simple excavation activity using brushes and “fossils” in sensory bins.
• Observe and describe different types of dinosaur features (e.g., plates, tails, horns).

Social & Emotional

• Take turns and share materials during dinosaur games and activities.
• Express excitement, curiosity, and questions about dinosaurs.
• Work cooperatively to build a dinosaur habitat or create group art projects.
• Practice self-regulation during pretend play (e.g., no roaring too loud).
• Demonstrate empathy by caring for “baby dinosaurs” in dramatic play.

Physical Development
Fine Motor:

• Use tools (like tweezers or paintbrushes) for fossil excavation.
• Cut out dinosaur shapes or assemble dinosaur puzzles.
• Trace dinosaur tracks or letters in sensory materials (e.g., sand, salt).

Gross Motor:

• Stomp, tiptoe, and crawl like different types of dinosaurs.
• Move through obstacle courses designed as "dinosaur adventures."
• Balance on “dinosaur footprints” during a follow-the-track game.
  

Creative Arts

• Create dinosaur-themed art using paint, clay, or recycled materials.
• Role-play as paleontologists or dinosaurs in dramatic play areas.
• Sing and dance to dinosaur songs and rhymes.
• Use instruments to create “dinosaur stomp” rhythms.

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Free  Preschool Dinosaur Activity Plan

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Preschool Dinosaur Activities

Below you will find a sample of some of our favorite activities for this theme. Click on a button below to find specific activities by type.

Pre-K Printables Club members can download all of our printable products, and instruction pages for hands-on activities for FREE using the member links in our shop listings and activity library. Not a member yet? Join here!

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Dinosaur Track Fossil Necklace

Invite your preschooler to create a special dinosaur necklace of their very own!
See the tutorial on the Dinosaur Track Fossil Necklace blog post. 

Try this!

Dance and Sing Songs about Dinosaurs

Dance and Sing along with The Laurie Berkner Band to the song We Are the Dinosaurs. 
This is a super fun song that encourages movement and has a great beat. 
This song is on their album The Best of the Laurie Berkner Band and is a staple in any early learning program. 
Add extra creativity by making Dinosaur Hats to wear while dancing. 

Dinosaur Stamping

Place out plates of different colored paints, large sheet of chart paper, and plastic dinosaur toys. Invite students to dip the dinosaur feet in the paint and create tracks across paper. This is a great process art project that all of your students can work on together!
View Member Instructions

Dino Shape Art

Give students pieces of construction paper cut into different shapes in different colors (squares, triangles, circles, rectangles, ovals, diamonds, etc) and invite students to use the shapes to create their own dinosaur by pasting the shapes together on a piece of paper. View Member Instructions

Paper Plate Volcano Craft

Fold a paper plate in half. Cut a small circle from the center, and a slit from the outside edge of the plate to the center. Fold the plate to make a cone and secure it with staples or packing tape attached to the inside. Cover with glue and brown tissue, or paint brown. Once dry add strips of red orange tissue paper "Lava" to the center of the cone to make it look like it is erupting. View Member Instructions

If the Dinosaurs Came Back Story Time Companion Activities (Members Only)

What would you do if dinosaurs came back? Now that's a big idea that deserves exploring! Pair the fun book If the Dinosaurs Came Back by Bernard Most (affiliate)  with our NEW Story Time Companion to engage in discussion, dive into vocabulary and make a fun craft. 
The If the Dinosaurs Came Back Story Time Companion set is now available for members in our shop!

Now Available in our Shop!

Dinosaur Shadows

Mix up a little science with art by tracing dinosaur shadows. View Member Instructions

Pretend to be a Paleontologist

Create a Paleontologist Lab in your Dramatic Play Space. Add Microscopes, DIY Fossils, and Bones. Add Dinosaur Books, Posters, and Identification Cards. Add Flashlights, Binoculars, Pretend Shovels, Magnifying Glasses, and Paint Brushes.

Try this!

Dinosaur Dress-Up

Provide Dinosaur Dress up items such as: Masks, DIY Dinosaur Tails, and DIY Dino Feet. 
View Member Instructions

Check out these Tutorials for DIY Dinosaur Dress-Up items:
Dinosaur Tails from Running with Scissors
Dino Cape from Friends Stitched Together
Tissue Box Dino Feet from a Bird and a Bean

Museum Dramatic Play Center

Set up the dramatic play area as a dinosaur museum. Print out images of dino fossils and place around the center. Include other items related to dinosaurs. You can include placards with information.  Set up a welcome booth/ticket booth. Have students pretend that they are spending the day exploring the museum. 
View Member Instructions

Dinosaur Dig Site

Set up sensory bins with sand and images of dinosaur bones buried in them. Provide students with sun hats (like paleontologists would wear), small shovels, paint brushes, tweezers, and containers to put each fossil in. Have them pretend they are at a dig site looking for dinosaur bones. View Member Instructions

Dinosaur Puppet Show

Add dinosaur puppets and props to the dramatic play center.
Invite students to create stories using the dinosaurs! View Member Instructions

Dinosaur Small World Play

This Dinosaur small world play invitation is from community member Justina Y. 
I love how she incorporated different styles of terrain in the tray. View Member Instructions

Build A Dinosaur Habitat

Build a dinosaur habitat outside using unit blocks or tree blocks.
Add mud or sand to create volcanoes and mountains. 
View Member Instructions

Build a Dinosaur

Place out images of dinosaurs and a variety of blocks.
Challenge students to study the images and create their own dinosaurs. View Member Instructions

Dinosaur Towers

Place large images of dinosaurs on the wall.
Challenge students to try to build towers as tall as the dinosaur pictures.
View Member Instructions

Dinosaur Pattern Block Mats

Pre-K Printables Club Members be sure to check out our My BIg Dinosaur Pre-K Book Companion (member exclusive). This set compliments the book
My Big Dinosaur Book by Roger Priddy. Included are a variety of fine motor activities as well as vocabulary review, book review, and discussion questions that compliment the book!

Pre-K Printables Club Members: Get this in our shop!

More Dinosaur Building & Small World Play Ideas:

• How to Make Small World Play Volcanoes from Still Playing School
• Invitation to create a mini dinosaur world from Little Worlds

Dinosaur Word Wall Cards*

Word wall cards are useful for all kinds of activities!
Use them while investigating dinosaurs and related items, for gross motor games, in the writing center and more! These 16 word wall cards are included in our Dinosaur Activity Pack. Practice your dinosaur stomping by stomping out each syllable in these words.

Dinosaur Preschool Activities Pack

Community Member Sheena W. invited her preschooler to sort mini dinosaurs based on type using the word wall cards from our Dinosaur Preschool Activities pack

Dinosaur Preschool Activities Pack

What If?

Encourage your preschooler to engage in imaginative thinking. 
Plan to read (or listen to the read aloud on youtube)  If the Dinosaurs Came Back by Bernard Most. 
Before reading the book, ask children to imagine what life would be like if dinosaurs came back. Keep the conversation light and silly. In what ways could dinosaurs be helpful? How might they cause mischief?
After the read aloud invite your preschoolers to create a book together or draw pictures about what might happen if they brought a dinosaur to school one day. 

Dinosaur Letter Match*

Practice identifying upper and lowercase letters with this Dinosaur Letter Match file folder activity found in our Dinosaur Activity Pack. Children match the lowercase fossil letters to the uppercase letters in the ground for a fun language activity!

Dinosaur Preschool Activities Pack

Erupting Rhymes

This engaging activity is a great way to make learning about rhyming words fun!
​This activity can be found inside our Dinosaurs Preschool Activity Pack

Available in our Shop!

Name-o-saurus

Give students images of Stegosauruses without their back spikes. Have students write one letter of their name on each piece of construction paper and then attach in the correct order on the Stegosaurus's back. 
View Member Instructions

Dinosaur Syllable Clap

Clap the syllables of each dinosaur name. View Member Instructions

My Big Dinosaur

Pre-K Printables Club Members be sure to check out our My Big Dinosaur Pre-K Book Companion (member exclusive). This set compliments the book
My Big Dinosaur Book by Roger Priddy. Included are a variety of fine motor activities as well as vocabulary review, book review, and discussion questions that compliment the book!

Pre-K Printables Club Members click here to download this in our shop!

More Dinosaur Language & Literacy Ideas

Digging for Dinosaur Fossils from Learning 4 Kids
Dinosaur Letter Tracing from Modern Preschool

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We Love Dinosaurs By Lucy Volpin
​How Do Dinosaurs Learn Their Colors? By Jane Yolen
​The Berenstain Bears and the Missing Dinosaur Bone By Jan Berenstain and Stan Berenstain
​How Tall Was a T. Rex? By Alison Limentani
​*My Big Dinosaur Book By Roger Priddy

Dino Themed Patterning*

Practice patterning with this dinosaur themed patterning printable included in the Dinosaur Activity

Dinosaur Preschool Activities Pack

Dinosaur Skeleton Match-Up*

This Dinosaur Skeleton Match-up game supports children as they learn to recognize similarities & differences and developing attention to detail. This activity is included in the Dinosaur Activity Pack 

Dinosaur Preschool Activities Pack

Dinosaur Pom Pom Color Matching*

Pair this printable with colorful pom poms to work on sorting & classification as well as color recognition skills. This printable is included in the 
Dinosaur Activity Pack

Dinosaur Preschool Activities Pack

Dinosaur 2D Shape Clip Cards*

In addition to supporting preschoolers in shape recognition, these cards also support fine motor development. When preschoolers use clothespins they are strengthening their hands and improving dexterity and hand-eye coordination. These Dinosaur Shape Clip Cards can be found inside our
Dinosaur Activity Pack.

Dinosaur Preschool Activities Pack

Dino Measure and Compare

Look up lengths that a few favorite dinosaurs were known to grow to. Make a line on the floor with masking tape to represent them, or draw on the ground outdoors with sidewalk chalk. 
Show the children a photo of each type of dinosaur that you drew a line for, without telling them which line represent which dinosaur. Challenge children to guess which line represents each dinosaur. Engage in discussion about the sizes of each. Invite children to lay down next to the line to compare their size. 
Encourage use of a variety of size related vocabulary words such as: ginormous, huge, average, vast, wide, slight, and microscopic. 

T-Rex Teeth Counting

Laminate a T-Rex with an open mouth. Place play dough "gums" around the edges. Roll a die and have your student add foam dinosaur teeth to the mouth based on the number they roll.
View Member Instructions

Dinosaur Foot Print Graphing 

Use painters tape to recreate a dinosaur footprint (actual size), and have your student guess how many students could fit inside. Graph their guesses, and ask several children to sit inside the circle. Have the remaining children count the number of children inside the circle and compare the number to their estimates. 
View Member Instructions

More Dino Math ideas

Dinosaur Clothespin Counting Activity from The Hive

Make your own Fossils

Your preschool will love this activity! Try making your own fossils using a few simple ingredients and your favorite dinosaur toys. 
​Visit our Make Your Own Fossils blog post to get all the details. 

Try this!

Dinosaur Egg Excavation

Set up a fun invitation to excavate!
Support preschoolers as they learn patience, perseverance, and the thrill of discovery as they engage in this Dinosaur Egg Excavation activity.  

Try this!

Create A Dino Sensory Bin

Our readers have shared some great sensory bins, see a few for inspiration below. View Member Instructions

​Dinosaur Sensory Bin from Erica's Educare Learning Center

​Dinosaur Sensory Bin from from Happy Hands Early Learning Academy

Dinosaur Sensory Bin using aquarium gravel, fake leaves, and rocks from Building Blocks Family Child Care

Dinosaur Tar Slime

Create some tar slime for pretend dinosaurs to stomp through! 
Your preschoolers will love making this slime almost as much as they will enjoy playing with it. We have all the details for you on our Make Your Own Dinosaur Tar Slime blog post. 

Erupting Volcano Experiment-Group Activity

As a class, create a volcano. You can use paper mache, or a toilet paper roll surrounded by clay or kinetic sand. Put baking soda and red food coloring in the middle of the volcano. Add vinegar to make the volcano erupt. Talk about lava and volcanoes erupt. View Member Instructions

Meat or Plant Eaters?

Learn about Herbivores and Carnivores. Place two bins (each labeled as Herbivores or Carnivores) in the center of the group area, along with a pile of pretend food. Have each child take turns sorting the the foods items into the bins based on whether they would be eaten by a carnivore or a herbivore.
Extend the learning by sorting dinosaurs as well. View Member Instructions

More Dinosaur Science & Sensory Ideas

Digging for Dinosaurs from the Jenny Evolution

Dinosaur Fine Motor Fun

Pre-K Printables Club Members be sure to check out our My BIg Dinosaur Pre-K Book Companion (member exclusive). This set compliments the book
My Big Dinosaur Book by Roger Priddy. Included are a variety of fine motor activities as well as vocabulary review, book review, and discussion questions that compliment the book!

Pre-K Printables Club Members get this in our shop!

Triceratops Toss

Use bulletin board paper to make a triceratops head and place it on the floor. Place plastic cone "horns" on top of your cutout. Have students stand several feet away and attempt to toss rings onto the cones.
View Member Instructions

Extract Dinosaurs from Ice- Fine Motor

Freeze plastic dinosaurs in an ice chunk. Have children use warm water and eye droppers/spray bottles to free them for some great fine motor practice.
View Member Instructions

Move Like a Dinosaur-Gross Motor

Challenge students to move like different dinosaurs.
Example: Stomp like a T-Rex, Glide like a Pterodactyl, Run like a Velociraptor.
View Member Instructions

Dinosaur Bone scoop-Fine Motor

Bury 2-3 different types of dry pasta "Dinosaur Bones" to add to sand.
Place photo labels on bowls or bins. Using tweezers have students find and sort the bones.
View Member Instructions

Follow The Dino Tracks-Gross Motor

Print off or draw different shaped Dinosaur tracks. Lay them out in different patterns in the classroom or outside. Have students follow the tracks in different ways.
Examples: Hop on the T-Rex tracks or skip on the Stegosaurus tracks.
View Member Instructions

The Floor is Lava-Gross Motor

Play the floor is lava. Provide students with stable items that they can hop onto move on in order to not touch the floor. Give students a spot in the room or outside to get to without touching the floor. Extend this activity by setting up the items so students have to work together to get everyone to the other side.
View Member Instructions

Dinosaur Egg Rescue-Gross Motor

Set up a hopscotch game with dinosaur eggs at one end an a dinosaur nest at the other. Have students take turns taking an egg, completing the hopscotch pattern and delivering the dinosaur egg safely to its nest. View Member Instructions

More Physical Development Ideas

Dinosaur Fine Motor Hunt from Best Toys for Toddlers
Dinosaur Toss from Mess for Less
Dinosaur Play Dough Kit from Mama Papa Bubba

Participate in a Group Dinosaur Chant

Children will have fun practicing subtraction with this fun chant. Before singing place 5 dinosaur figures (or paper cutouts) near you, or on a display board. View Member Instructions

Sing to the tune of "5-green and speckled frogs"
5 dinosaurs all green
Looking so fierce and mean,
Stomping their big feet on the ground-stomp, stomp
One got too close to me.
I hid behind a tree.
It left before I could found. Shhhh...

(take away one dinosaur and whisper "how many went away? How many are left? whisper-count how many are left).
Sing each verse, until all of the dinosaurs are gone!

Take a virtual museum tour

Take a virtual dinosaur museum tour like this one from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

Paleontologist Guest Speaker

If you are able to find a paleontologist in your community, invite them to come present to the class  via Zoom to talk about dinosaurs! View Member Instructions

Play a Game Together- Dinosaur Charades

Have students act out different dinosaurs while their classmates try to guess what kind of dinosaur they are. This is a great way to practice taking turns and collaboration.

Dinosaur Emotion Mats

Sometimes emotions can feel like an unexpected explosion!  Support your preschooler in their development of learning to identify emotions with this mat from our Dinosaur Activity Pack. As an extension use the mat to talk about how to recognize these emotions in themselves and how to handle them. 

Dinosaur Egg Pass-Teamwork

Have students line up. At one end of the line place a bucket of plastic dinosaur eggs. At the other end have a dinosaur nest. Challenge the students to see how many eggs they can get to the nest in a certain amount of time. They have to use teamwork to pass the dinosaur egg down the line to place it in the nest. 
View Member Instructions

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Theme Communication

• Ask families if they have any dinosaur experts in their family or friends that might like to come in and talk about their work. 
• Ask families if they have any fun materials or books for the program to explore this week. 
• Add the suggested materials and books from this page to your Amazon Wish List for parents to donate to the classroom. 
• Share your lesson plan with parents so they can extend the conversation and learning at home!

Dinosaur Name Seating Mats

Use craft foam or paper (laminated) to create large dinosaur seating mats.
Add a student name to each mat, so they can find where to sit during group time. View Member Instructions

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Pre-K Printables Club Members

Pre-K Printables Club members can download all of our printable products for FREE through the member links in our shop listings and activity library.  Not a member yet? Join here!

Pre-K Printables Club Members can download all of these products for free!
Not a member? Learn more about our membership here!

Dinosaur Preschool Activity Pack

$7.00

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My Big Dinosaur Pre-K Book Companion

$3.00

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If the Dinosaurs Came Back Book Companion

$3.00

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How do Dinosaurs Stay Friends Book Companion

$3.00

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