A Brooklyn mom shares DIY after-school dinosaur and fossil projects that she does preschooler to help develop skills like small muscle control, hand-eye coordination, and following directions.
What you need:
• Model Magic
• Placemat
• Rolling pin
• Objects to stamp imprints onto “fossils”
• Construction paper
• Play-Doh tools
• Small box/container
• Handful of sand
• Small paintbrush
• Copy of a cut-up dinosaur skeleton
• Glue
Create a Fossil
 Williams-Donaldson’s 2-year-old son, T, uses a brush to uncover fossils hidden in a small bin of sand. Scherrie Williams-Donaldson |
T, who is 2, rolled out his Model Magic using a rolling pin. Then he chose two items to make impressions on the clay (he chose a cookie and big bird). He made the imprints in the clay and cut out the circles with his Play-Doh tools. We let them dry for a few hours; when they hardened, we glued them to construction paper and labeled them.
Skills this activity helps develop:
• Self-regulation skills
• Small muscle control
• Hand-eye coordination
• Following directions
Conduct an ‘Archaeological’ Dig
This great hands-on project helped T understand what a paleontologist does.
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After digging up all the bones, T glues together the pieces onto construction paper, revealing a completed T-rex skeleton. |
Take the cut-up copy of the dinosaur skeleton and put it in a small box or container. Then, cover the paper pieces with sand. T used the small paintbrush to “uncover” the fossil. Next, T retrieved the fossil pieces from the box and placed them on construction paper. When he uncovered all the pieces, he arranged them in order and glued them down.
Skills this activity helps develop:
• Fine motor skills
• Role playing and solidified connections
• Use of the five senses
• Hand-eye coordination
Scherrie Williams-Donaldson of Brooklyn is the mother of two young boys whom she refers to as “T” and “A” on her website, ThirtyMommy.com, where you’ll find her “Tuesday Thoughts,” product reviews, and more at-home projects. Follow her on Twitter at @thirtymommy.
