Dinosaur Interactive Program (Preschool)

Classroom Preparation: Children learned different dinosaur songs, and I generally had hand motions to go with most songs. I showed them many pictures of dinosaurs, talked about different types, and explained that different types of dinosaurs were on the earth at different times. Library books have silhouettes of dinosaurs next to silhouettes of humans so the children get an idea of how big they were compared with humans.
Setup: Our directress made three dinosaurs (two-dimensional) out of refrigerator cardboard. She used metallic spray paint of different colors. These looked terrific and form a backdrop for the people to sit in front of.
What You Need: Keyboard (to use for rhythm rap), guitar, the book Saturday Night At The Dinosaur Stomp (by Carol Diggs), text for puppet shows, a sound system (needed, believe me!), microphone(s), amplification of accompaniments of any kind.
Arrival: Introductions, parents sit with kids, kids stay with parents, during movement (try to keep talking to minimum). Songs: Please join in on the songs for the refrains. [Note: I gave the parents a sheet with just the chorus words printed to make it easy for them.]
[I interjected dinosaur jokes between each activity as transition material. These can be found on web sites.]
Identify: Felt Board - Put different dinosaurs on board; identify
Songs: (Call numbers) 1. "Long Ago;" 2. "I'm A Three Toed;" 3. "Thunder Lizard" (from Music K-8, Vol. 5, No. 5); 4. "Pterosaur" (from Music K-8, Vol. 6, No. 1); 5. "'Raptor Rap" (from Songs Of The Jurassic); 6. "T. Rex In The Neighborhood" (from Music K-8, Vol. 8, No. 1; also available as a Singles Reproducible Kit)
Story: Saturday Night At The Dinosaur Stomp (by Carol Diggs). Great book; I added a refrain for the children and parents to recite and simply interjected this refrain about eight times during the recitation. This is done as a rap and I played a keyboard rhythm to accompany the story. I held the book for the children to see and had the text printed out for myself so I could read and turn pages without looking at the book. Have all do a rhythmic "Booma Lacka" after each group of spoken words: (See the dinosaurs coming down the track, Booma-Lacka-Booma-Lacka Whack, Whack, Whack)
Movement:
1. The Dinosaurs (sitting); Read dramatically. (See web sites.)
2. I'm A Mean Old Dinosaur (standing); I found this parody to "I'm A Little Teapot" at a web site.
3. Did You Ever See A Dinosaur (standing) Parody to "Did You Ever See A Lassie" (He hides in your bedroom and wears your pajamas; He eats all your peanuts and jumps in your tulips; I made up some verses)
4. (Move to Music) Move like a: (I used about 30 seconds of music from Songs Of The Jurassic CD from Music K-8. Great Songs!!) Brontosaurus (Create one long train. Music is "Thunder Lizard"), Tyrannosaurus Rex, Velociraptor, Pterodactyl
5. Grunt, Stomp, Blow, Snore (music) This is on a John Jacobsen CD.
Cool Down:
Stretch to the songs... "I Went To The Pet Store," "If I Had A Dinosaur," and new song "Down In The Valley" (parody of "Down By The Station" - see web sites)
Puppets: One of the teachers made sock puppets for each child. I had the children come up in groups to perform a brief puppet show. This was not rehearsed and was a surprise for the children so the shows were ad-libbed.
Toddlers (ages 1-2): I sang a song while the kids made their puppets dance.
Primary Children (ages 2-4): One of the teachers read a movement verse describing different dinosaurs; "Some were tall, some were small, etc..." (see web site). I crouched down behind our cardboard dinosaurs with the children and with my puppet, showed the kids what to do.
Extended Day (ages 4-6): Another teacher read this text while I did puppets with the kids:

Long ago about 230 million years ago, dinosaurs began to appear on the earth. A very long time ago! For about 140 million years the dinosaurs were the most important creature on the earth. The earliest dinosaurs were not very big. The largest of these was about 15 feet long. Some of the dinosaurs were swimmers that looked like dolphins. Other ocean creatures had long necks and large flippers!

And then came Bronto! (Brontosauruses were plant eaters (raise trees) and didn't have to chase after other dinosaurs.) You see Bronto was verrrrry shy. Every time he heard any noise, he would run away.

Well one day Bronto decided to 'just ever so slowly' peek his head out the door of his cave. He looked carefully around and then he heard a tree branch rustle in the wind. He quickly pulled his head back inside his cave. Well this would just not do! He must try again! So again, ever so slowly, he peeked his head out of the cave and very carefully looked around. What he didn't know was that there were other dinosaurs doing the same thing at the same time! He felt so brave he lifted his body even further out of the cave. "Wow, there's a forest out here!" he thought to himself. Then all of a sudden, he heard the screeching sound of a Pterosaur. He was so afraid his body began to shake uncontrollably. But then he looked around, and lo and behold, he discovered he wasn't alone! He saw other dinosaurs like him and thought he might like to get to know one. Ever so slowly, he crept over to one, and said, "Hello!" And what do you know? The other dinosaur said hello right back! They were so happy to find each other that they began to dance! (Music)

Le finis! This concluded the program. The children went home with a dinosaur cookie and a packet of pictures to color and activities to do at home.