Educating Our Children | D is for Dinosaur {And Free Printables}

D is for Dinosaur {And Free Printables}

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Check out these D is for Dinosaur printable activity and idea! Learning about the alphabet is so much fun to do! Be sure to check out my other alphabet printables for even more learning fun.

National Dinosaur Month!

Did you know that October is National Dinosaur Month?  What a fabulous holiday, huh?  We’ve been packing in a ton of fun in our house (check out the whole weekly schedule here) and I wanted to share on of my favorite projects with you!

Matching Dinosaurs and Eggs

We’ve been reading through the book Ten Little Eggs (which the kids love!) quite a bit these days.  In the book, there are 10 colored eggs and when they hatch, the bird is the same color that the egg was.  In other words, they match!  That got me thinking about matching dinosaurs with eggs, but I wanted step it up a notch and add some pattern paper to the mix.

Here’s What You Need:

  • Patterned Paper big enough to cut out a dinosaur and 2-3 matching eggs
  • Contact Paper (if you want to cheapskate laminate)
  • Dinosaur templates (I used this one and this one)

Here’s What You Do:

Cut out your dinosaur templates and trace them onto your patterned paper.  I thought I was going to have to buy some scrapbook paper, but then I found this Scrap Pack buried in my (one of many) craft drawer.

A collection of colorful craft papers and a book titled the mini stack with 144 sheets. There are also metal cookie cutters in various shapes, all placed on a wooden table.

I also toyed around with the idea of using my dinosaur cookie cutters as a template, but I wanted something a little bigger.

Three paper dinosaur cutouts in patterned designs, including blue plaid and floral, rest on a wooden surface. A pen is partially visible at the top right corner.

Long-necks (Brachiosaurus) Complete.

A Cricut Mini cutting machine is on a wooden table, actively cutting a sheet with an orange floral pattern. The machines green light is on, indicating it is operational. Scissors and other crafting tools are nearby.

I recently acquired a Cricut cutting machine and was eager to try it out.  I had the machine cut out my eggs, but you can easily just draw ovals and cut them out yourself.  Turns out, that probably would have been a better option for me too.  My patterned paper was too thin for the machine and everything ended up getting stuck to the cutting board.  I ended up destroying at least six eggs trying to peel them off the board.  Ugh.  See where technology leaves us?

Two images of paper cutouts on a beige carpet. Left: dinosaur shapes in various patterns and colors. Right: different patterned paper circles and ovals.

I was pretty much forced into cheapskate laminating since the cutting board for the Cricut is ultra sticky and made all my patterned paper bend at weird angles when I pulled it off (if I could even get it off!).  Check out how to cheapskate laminate in this post.  I actually skipped the cardboard step because I was in a hurry, but I usually do like things a little more sturdy.

After you pieces are covered in contact paper, it’s time to play!

A child is placing a pink and white dinosaur-shaped cutout on a carpeted floor, with more paper cutouts scattered nearby. The childs arm and part of their foot are visible.

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Some Ideas:

  • Match the dinosaur to its eggs (bet you could have thought of that one!)
  • Match the dinosaurs by main color (are they mostly blue?  mostly pink?)
  • Make a dividing line on the floor and put dinos with 2 eggs on the right side and dinos with 3 eggs on the left side
  • Match dinosaurs with flowers
  • Match dinosaurs with stripes
 
Various paper cutouts with different patterns and shapes, including grids, dots, and floral designs, are scattered on a beige carpet. A book with illustrations is partially visible at the top of the image.
 
Red Egg, Blue Egg!
 
A child wearing jeans and a white shirt is sitting on a carpeted floor, reaching for colorful paper cutouts shaped like dinosaurs. A book and more cutouts are scattered around them.
 
This is fun!

What About You?

Got some ideas of your own?  I’d love to hear about them!  
 

Grab Your Set of Free Dinosaur Puppets for Extra Fun!

More Dinosaur Fun:

Color By Number Dinosaur Coloring Sheets by 1st Grade Learning

Dinosaur Paper Plate (Long-Neck)

About the Author:

Lindsey Whitney is a blogger over at Growing Kids Ministry.  A blog designed to help parents, teachers, and Children’s Ministry workers who want to help the kids they love grow in their faith.   You can connect with her via twitter or on facebook.

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