You know your elementary-aged students are fascinated with dinosaurs. Have you thought about leveraging this fascination with an educational dinosaur theme unit study? The things your students are most interested in make the best learning experiences!
By taking a few steps to organize your week around a theme you can get your students more engaged and more excited about school work. We’ve put together a simple and exciting elementary dinosaur themed unit study for your K-2 students.
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We’ve included a free dinosaur printable at the end of this post so that you can help your students advance in key skill areas while also having fun. A unit study is a method that allows you to take all of the normal subjects you would cover with your student, and give them a theme.
For older kids, you can create a history-based unit study or a science-based unit study, or a literature-based unit study on any topic you choose.
This dinosaur unit study for K-2 grade is built around books about dinosaurs. Some will inspire your kids with science and some will be just for fun.
The science books included are written from a young-earth creation science point of view. Add to this fun basic skills worksheets from the dinosaur printable we’ve included, a dinosaur craft or game to enjoy, and your normal math and phonics practice.
Two great ways to spice up your unit study? Add dinosaur foods and dinosaur fun! Make a few dinosaur snacks and find a few dinosaur toys to have ready.
My kids enjoyed the little plastic dinosaurs like these.
We also had dinosaur-shaped math counters
These are perfect for making math come alive.
What the Dinosaur printable includes
- Our dinosaur printable for K-2, available at the end of this post, includes the following pages.
- Three dinosaur mazes to improve visual perceptual skills and problem-solving.
- Four pages of dinosaur handwriting practice with instruction cards.
- Three pages of dinosaur counting practice.
- One simple dinosaur word search with the solution.
- One simple dinosaur crossword puzzle with the solution.
- Two dinosaur puzzles to solve.
- Two dinosaur sudoku puzzles to solve.
- Two Dinosaur pattern pages.
- A foldable dinosaur dies.
- A dinosaur movement game to play with the die.
- A dinosaur board game to play with the die.
- One alphabet maze page
- One number maze page with the solution.
- Two writing activity pages centered around dinosaurs.
Free Dinosaur unit study printables
As you can see, that’s a whole lot of dinosaur learning fun! Follow the schedule below to enjoy this dinosaur unit study and have ten days of learning fun.
If you prefer, double up on each day’s activities to condense your study into one week. Or pick and choose from everything on the schedule to create the dinosaur unit study that meets your needs!
Dinosaur Unit Study Schedule
Dinosaur Unit Study – Day One
- Read: Never Let a Dinosaur Scribble by Diane Alber
- Create: Make these Dinosaur Bookmarks from Easy Peasy and Fun
- Do: Make and Enjoy Eruption Dinosaur Extinction Slime from Teach Beside Me.
- Complete: Two to three pages of the printable plus math and phonics.
Dinosaur Unit Study – Day Two
- Read: How do Dinosaurs Say I’m Mad by Jane Yolen
- Create: Dinosaur Origami
- Do: Measuring with Dino Feet from I Can Teach My Child.
- Complete: Two to three pages of the printable plus math and phonics.
Dinosaur Unit Study – Day Three
- Read: Dinosaurs for Kids by Ken Ham
- Create: Make Your Own Dinosaur Skeleton. Idea from Your Modern Family
- Do: Play the dinosaur movement game found in our dinosaur printable.
- Complete: Two to three pages of the printable plus math and phonics.
Dinosaur Unit Study – Day Four
- Read: What the Dinosaurs Did Tonight by Refe Tuma
- Create: Draw a Plesiosaurus. Idea from Art Project for Kids
- Do: Hatching Frozen Dinosaur Eggs from Little Bins for Little Hands
- Complete: Two to three pages of the printable plus math and phonics.
Dinosaur Unit Study – Day Five
- Read: Skippy John Jones and the Big Bones by Judy Schachner
- Create: Make Dazzling Dinosaurs with this idea from Deep Space Sparkle
- Do: Play the dinosaur board game provided in our free dinosaur printable.
- Complete: Two to three pages of the printable plus math and phonics.
Dinosaur Unit Study – Day Six
- Read: The Dinosaur Book by John Woodward
- Create: Make Your Own Dinosaur Fossil from the Simple Parent.
- Do: Play Dinosaur Bingo with this free printable from Natasha LH
- Complete: Two to three pages of the printable plus math and phonics.
Dinosaur Unit Study – Day Seven
- Read: What If You Had T-Rex Teeth? by Sandra Markle
- Create: Make Dinosaur Teeth Necklaces from Tippy Toe Crafts
- Do: Play Dinosaur Bingo with this free printable from Natasha LH
- Complete: Two to three pages of the printable plus math and phonics.
Dinosaur Unit Study – Day Eight
- Read: No T-Rex in the Library by Toni Buzzeo
- Create: How Big Were the Dinosaurs? Three Fun Ways to Find Out from Frugal Fun for Boys
- Do: Go On a Dinosaur Hunt with this free printable from Play Party Plan
- Complete: Two to three pages of the printable plus math and phonics.
Dinosaur Unit Study – Day Nine
- Read: Dinosaur Roar by Henrietta Stickland — perfect to teach your students about adjectives!
- Create: Make Fizzy Dinosaur Eggs using instructions from The Best Ideas for Kids.
- Do: Tell Each Other Dinosaur Jokes from Activity Village.
- Complete: Two to three pages of the printable plus math and phonics.
Dinosaur Unit Study – Day Ten
- Read: When Dinosaurs Came With Everything by Elise Broach
- Create: Volcano Art from Our Little Acorns
Documentaries about dinosaurs
- Learn Dinosaurs for Kids
- Blippi Visits Dinosaur Exhibition
- Dinosaurs: All You Need To Know
- Dinosaur Museum
- Amazing Dinosaur For Kids
- Learn About Dinosaurs
- Baby T-Rex Dinosaurs Song
Download the free printables here
