Social and Emotional Development (Playing with Others)
An activity for older toddlers
Materials
- small plastic dinosaurs - bag of sand - large sensory bin - table - small plastic shovels - small plastic buckets - small dump trucks - toothbrushes - magnifying glasses - beach towel - book "Dinosaur Roar!"
(Materials for modifiers) - gravel - stones - mud - plastic cars - large plastic dinosaurs
Modifiers
For an easier challenge: - Replace sand with gravel or stones - Include large plastic dinosaurs
For a trickier challenge - Replace sand with mud - Bury plastic cars in sensory bin
Follow-Up Ideas
- If you want this activity to go on longer, you can set up a dinosaur-bathing station. Fill up a cake pan with soapy water, place sponges and toothbrushes next to the pan, and let the children clean their sandy dinosaurs with the water, sponges, and toothbrushes.
- Play "Ring Around the Rosie" with a hula hoop. Have the children hold the hula hoop with one hand. Then walk in a circle and sing "Ring Around the Rosie" while holding onto the hoop. Watch your children collapse on the floor laughing!
Originating Idea
Everyone loves dinosaurs, and this activity uses this love of dinosaurs to encourage children to share their enjoyment with each other! This activity also assists children with fine motor and gross motor skills, and is a great sensory activity that you can set up anywhere in your classroom.
How to Make Activity
You will need to set up the sensory bin on the table. Then you place the small plastic dinosaurs in the bottom of the bin. Then you cover the dinosaurs with the sand, making sure that you can't see the dinosaurs at all. You place the shovels, buckets, dump trucks, toothbrushes, and magnifying glasses on top of the sand. To help you with clean-up later, you can place the sensory bin on top of a beach towel.
How to Implement the Activity
During morning circle time, have either yourself or the teacher's assistant set the activity up. Whoever isn't setting up this activity will read the story "Dinosaur Roar!" to the children. Once the activity is ready, the teacher reading the story will bring the children to the dinosaur dig. She will say, "This is a new sand box we made for our classroom! I think there may be something buried in the sand." Then both teachers will observe the toddlers digging in the sand.
The students will then start digging in the sand. They will use a variety of toys, including the shovels, buckets, dump trucks, and toothbrushes. They'll keep digging and digging until they find the dinosaurs. At this point, the students will probably search through the sand until they find all the dinosaurs in the sensory bin. Some children may chose to simply play with the sand and/or dump trucks, some may clean their dinosaurs with the toothbrushes, and others may examine the dinosaurs with the magnifying glasses.
After the children have explored this activity in full, ring a bell and sing, "Five more minutes and then we're going to clean up!" Then after five more minutes, ring the bell and sing, "Clean up time! Let's put the toys back in the sand box!" The teachers should then help the children place all the dinosaurs and toys in the sensory bin. Once all the toys are put away, tell the children, "We're going to wash our hands for morning snack! Come line up in front of the sink!" One teacher helps the children wash their hands for morning snack while the other teacher cleans up this activity.