Prehistoric Animal & Dinosaur Activities With Free Printable

"What the hand does, the mind remembers."

 - Maria Montessori

We originally planned this unit study in celebration of our dino/rock-loving daughter's birthday.  She loves getting dirty and collecting curiosities.  As a result, we couldn't think of a better way to celebrate life than having fun with prehistoric animal and dinosaur activities that include art, nature, and science.

Jump to:

• What is a Dinosaur?
• What is Not a Dinosaur?
• Homemade Frosted Animal Crackers
• What are Adaptations to This Prehistoric Animal Unit?
• What is the Leave No Trace Philosophy?
• Prehistoric Animal & Dinosaur Activities
• Prehistoric Animal & Dinosaur Activities Conclusion
• More Montessori Unit Studies
• Prehistoric Animal & Dinosaur Activities

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What is a Dinosaur?

Dinosaurs are animals that belong to the clade (group) Dinosauria. According to Dinosaur!: Dinosaurs and Other Amazing Prehistoric Creatures as You've Never Seen Them Before:

"The first dinosaurs evolved roughly 235 million years ago, in the Middle Triassic Period. Their ancestors were small, slender archosaur reptiles that stood and walked with their legs underneath their bodies. This upright stance was perfected by the dinosaurs, and was one of the factors that allowed many of them to grow so big."

DK & Smithsonian Institution

What is Not a Dinosaur?

A few prehistoric reptiles that existed at the same time as dinosaurs but that were not actually dinosaurs include pterosaurs, marine reptiles, and crocodilians.

Check out the free Dinosaur or Not a Dinosaur Prehistoric Animal Sorting printable down at the bottom.

What are Adaptations to This Prehistoric Animal Unit?

Additional printables would be a great way to supplement any of the activities listed here if resources or outdoor space are limited.  Check out our other Unit Studies for more on where we get the printables we love. 

Also, many libraries have audiobooks or eResources available to print. 

Lastly, the fossil hunt and excavation could be adapted to an indoor space, using some imagination.

What is the Leave No Trace Philosophy?

Leave No Trace is a set of principles to follow in order to minimize human impact on the environment.

We do support the Leave No Trace philosophy.  However, there are exceptions and ways to operate with care for the purposes of education.  We collected a minimal number of specimens and only from loose soil on approved land.  Also, we made some of our specimens out of clay to minimize our impact. 

DNR's state-specific rockhounding guidelines for the non-commercial gathering of rocks, minerals, and fossils for research and/or educational purposes are a great resource for additional information.

So, off we went.  On a rock/fossil hunt.

Prehistoric Animal & Dinosaur Activities

This unit study includes experiences with prehistoric animals, including dinosaurs, as well as cool rocks and minerals and DIY fossil activities. We have a decent size collection of Schleich animals but these activities can be accomplished with your child's favorite prehistoric animals.

If you really want to up your prehistoric animal game, Creative Beast Studio's Beasts of the Mesozoic has incredible prehistoric animal action figures. The Diabloceratops eatoni and Baby Diabloceratops pictured above are from the Ceratopsian series and they're awesome to play with, not to mention gorgeous.

The points of articulation on each animal allow them to be poseable and much more life-like than their competitors. These action figures also come with cool collectible cards and stunning package art.

We find that it's also helpful to include materials related to rocks and minerals when exploring dinosaurs and other prehistoric life. After all, much of what we know about prehistoric animals has been uncovered through processes involving rocks and minerals.

We also have a great collection of books to share for this unit. You can find all of the prehistoric animal books in our shop.

These rock, mineral, and fossil activities are not to be confused with the deeper work contained in the 2nd Great Lesson of the Lower Elementary curriculum.  However, they do provide a nice primer for those future works.

Reference Books & Field Guides

• Anatomicum - beautiful addition to the Welcome to the Museum series.  Great for gathering around on the floor and enjoying the detailed illustrations.

• Dinosaurium - very cool illustrations of your favorite dinosaurs and other prehistoric life. Learn about dinosaur classification as well as non-dinosaur species that are often mistaken for dinosaurs.

• Cabinet of Curiosities - covers how to get started collecting and storing your finds, as well as the taxonomic classification helpful for identification purposes. There's even a section about fossils. This book is definitely a resource that will continue to be useful to kids as they increase in understanding and progress to the elementary years.

• Dinosaur! - very thorough reference with exciting pictures from the Smithsonian collection. As you can see this book pairs well with our Schleich prehistoric animal collection. The pachycephalosaurus and cryolophosaurus are easy for kids to identify based on the book.

• Rocks & Minerals of Washington and Oregon - regional pocket-sized rockhounding guide.
• Rocks, Fossils, and Arrowheads - awesome kids field guide in the Take-Along Guide series.  Includes some activities for your little ones as well.
• Fossils: The Clearest Recognition Guide Available - thorough field guide with great images to guide your identification needs.
• Nature Anatomy - We use this book over and over again as we explore various topics.  Great section on rocks/minerals with a unique artistic touch.
• My Book of Rocks and Minerals - a great first field guide for a preschooler. The images are bold and lively, drawing the child's eye, starting with the cover. 

Prehistoric Animal & Dinosaur Activities Picture Books

• The Street Beneath My Feet - Talk about fun! This book has beautiful illustrations with extensive fold-out pages for exploring the layers of the earth.

• From Lava to Life:  The Universe Tells Our Earth Story - a beautifully illustrated book that discusses the story of life on earth as told from the point of view of the universe. I highly recommend this book for the elementary years as well. You will find it an essential resource for Montessori's Great Lessons and the history of earth.

• A Rock is Lively - this book is a must-have because it can be read as a shorter picture book, or a more in-depth informational piece, depending on which size font you follow throughout the pages.  The illustrations are very bright and attractive
• Waseca Parts of a Biome Readers:  Soil, Air, Water - coincides with the Waseca Reading Program and provides reading experiences on subjects like the soil and earth. Save $15 on your first Waseca Biomes purchase.
• Fossils Tell of Long Ago - great introductory book to explain the existence of fossils.  Also contains some fossil-making ideas
• A Stone Sat Still - we love this book!  It's rhythmic and poetic, describing all the processes that act upon and interactions that can come with being a rock in this world.
• If You Find a Rock - playful poetic verses with beautiful images of various rocks and their uses.  very helpful if you're looking for some creative ways to play with rocks.
• Sam & Dave Dig a Hole - for observant children to laugh their way through the pages.  Sam & Dave just can't catch a break in their search for something spectacular, but it all ends in fun.

Bilingual Dinosaur Picture Book

• Santiago's Dinosaurios - It's Santiago's first day of school in the U.S. and, of course, a shared love of dinosaurs turns out to be the key ingredient to connection.

This bilingual picture book makes for the perfect summer reading selection or for your back-to-school booklist.

Books on Relevant People

• Mary Anning:  The Girl Who Cracked Open the World - Mary didn't just sell sea shells by the sea shore.  As a matter of fact, in addition to selling curiosities to local tourists to help support her family, she was also a paleontologist.

Mary Anning discovered several intact dinosaur skeletons and made important contributions to the scientific body of knowledge surrounding prehistoric life. This is a great read.

Activities & Shelf Work

Kids can grab their prehistoric animals from their Pangea supercontinent box. This custom box Treasures From Jennifer is great for keeping the animals organized and together.

There's nothing more frustrating for our kids than not being able to find that one specific animal they need for an activity.

If kids are interested in starting a rocks and minerals collection, the Rock and Minerals box is another custom box from Treasures From Jennifer that is helping us keep it all organized.

We're using it to store the Fossilicious Rocks and Minerals collection, which will carry you through earth science and geology lessons of the elementary years. However, you can use it to store any rocks and minerals you add to your collection.

• Making Fossils using Air Dry Clay & Schleich Prehistoric Animals - discuss the differences between them.

Fun Fact: The Schleich Anhanguera pictured above is a pterosaur, which is not a dinosaur.

• Paint 'Egg Fossils' using paintbrushes and fingers.
• Explore Bones - we used replicas of coyote and possum bones for this activity.
• Display Specimens for Sensory Experiences/Exploration with Art Materials.

• Don't have an interest in prehistoric animals or dinosaurs? How about making fossils with animal tracks using Mirus Toys Animal Tracks Play-Doh Stampers as an alternative option? These stampers make really beautiful and accurate tracks that can be painted or decorated to extend the fun. Our kids love using their watercolor paints to add color or small details. They also increase hand strength for later tasks such as handwriting.

• Collect your own Geology Specimens and Classify - we collected specimens such as sandstone, petrified wood, obsidian, quartz, etc.

• Compare Homemade Fossils to Resource Images.

• Trace Animal Bones and get creative using watercolor paints or Stabilo 3-in-1 crayons.
• Color Montessorikiwi Early Life Coloring Pages. These are our kids' favorite realistic coloring pages for prehistoric animals. This resource will grow with your kids into the elementary years as many of the coloring pages also include the clock of eras. The clock of eras is an essential component of Montessori's Great Lessons and the history of earth.

Get 16% off your purchase from Montessorikiwi here.

Prehistoric Animals in the Kitchen

• The plesiosaurus, a prehistoric marine reptile, is a big hit in our home. This delicious plesiosaurus einkorn brownie cake is an awesome way to learn about prehistoric animals. The brownies were easy to make and we used this nature's inspiration food coloring to achieve the beautiful blue color for the homemade icing.

Your child can substitute their favorite prehistoric animals and colors to customize the experience to their interests.

Outdoor Fossil Hunt

• Locate and Excavate Specimens using Handwritten Map of Dig Sites.

Free Dinosaur or Not a Dinosaur Prehistoric Animal Sorting

Grab your free prehistoric animal sorting activity above. Kids can sort the cards into rows or columns using the heading cards: dinosaur and not a dinosaur. The colors of the cards provide a control of error so that kids can self-correct when completing this work independently.

These sorting cards also make excellent three-part cards for introducing vocabulary related to prehistoric animals and dinosaurs. To use these as 3-part cards, simply print two copies of the printable and then cut the labels off the cards on one of the copies. Children can match the picture and then match the label as they show readiness.

Children can also use them to practice object-to-picture matching with their favorite animal figurines.

Is It really a dinosaur? Or is it something else?

Learning Letters and Sounds the Montessori Way

Did you know that Schleich animals can help kids learn to read? In this lesson, Katalina matches Montessori lowercase sandpaper letters to the prehistoric animal with the same Beginning Letter Sound.

Tracing sandpaper letters with the index and middle fingers of the dominant hand and learning letter sounds facilitates word-building with the movable alphabet later on. Using your child's favorite animals can generate the most interest.

Prehistoric Animal & Dinosaur Activities Conclusion

We hope you enjoyed seeing a variety of prehistoric animal and dinosaur activities.  I would definitely recommend doing a unit like this if your little ones like to get dirty outdoors or with their art materials. It's an awesome and affordable hands-on approach to learning about Geology and Paleontology.

More Montessori Unit Studies

• Bee Activities
• Grace and Courtesy
• Space Unit Study
• Montessori Tree Unit
• Helpers Unit Study
• Antarctica Unit

Thanks for stopping by!

- Kristin