I have been craving chocolate lately. Just the smell of chocolate is intoxicating! So go grab a healthy chocolate bar and read up on this new book pairing activity! Maybe my chocolate craving is what inspired this multi-sensory chocolate activity. Or maybe this book just lends itself to this type of outcome.
I have really come to appreciate Kane Miller books and the utmost standard and intention they place on each of their children’s books. Although I highly enjoy a book filled with complicated and beautiful illustrations, young children also need simplicity in the illustrations they view. This book has delightful rhyming and simple yet stunning illustrations.
Each week in our Literacy Adventures class we focus on a new letter. This week was ‘D’, and we wanted a new activity that was fresh and simple. “I’m a Hungry Dinosaur” was the perfect book to pair with an activity. I must admit that it took me a while to produce an activity that lived up to my teaching standards. Worksheets are not something that I often bring into my preschool teaching style. Preschoolers typically do not gain anything from rote worksheets. They may look appealing for adults, but children need more abstract activities to meet their developmental needs.
However, part of my intention with this worksheet was to develop verbal instruction following. If you’re a mom or teacher of a preschooler, you know that giving a 3-year-old a 3-step instruction process is a recipe for disaster. By the time you finish telling them the third instruction, they have already forgotten the first instruction! So, although this activity violated my ‘no worksheet’ policy, I knew that there was intention behind the intrusion of my standard.
This activity also requires a certain amount of fine motor skills. Instead of using a marker, pencil, or crayon to practice writing uppercase and lowercase D’s, the child to paints them! Be prepared for blobs of paint instead of neatly crafted D’s. And be okay with that! Its just another way of developing those fine motor skills needed for a lifetime of writing.
My favorite part of this project was in the chocolate. The little dinosaur in the book makes and bakes a chocolate cake. So, I thought it would be fun if the children were able to paint chocolate D’s! And because I was already craving chocolate, I didn’t skimp on the chocolate powered. Nope, I bought the ‘good stuff!’ Which made for an interesting afternoon of painting because not only did the kids want to eat the paint, but I’ll admit that I did too!
{I'm a Hungry Dinosaur ~Free Download!}
I would love to share my entire printable with you. You'll receive the worksheet, lesson instructions, materials list, lesson objectives, and a extra cake sheet! Bring it to your classroom, home, or wherever you'd like to try this project. Clink on the handy-dandy provided link above to download the PDF!
Maybe next time we’ll have to include a chocolate cake snack at the end of this painting excursion! Share your favorite healthy cake recipes with me so I can go gorge myself on chocolate!
~Rachael Belle
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