Dinosaur Themed Busy Box

Every kid goes through a Dinosaur loving stage. Some become more obsessed than others. I once read a quote that said “The two times in your life when you know the most about dinosaurs is when you’re 3 and when you are the parent of a 3-year-old dinosaur expert.” Making a Busy Box to fit your Dinosaur-obsessed child’s interest will go a long way in getting them to play and learn independently. Don’t forget to check the Busy Box Download Library and YouTube Channel for money of these Dinosaur Themed Busy Box resources I have created for you.

I have been or can be if you click on a link and make a purchase, compensated via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value for writing this post. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. Please read my full disclosure for more information.

Pre-Reading

Creating a love of reading starts with modeling. This means you’re showing your children what to read, how you read when you read, why you read, and where you read. 9 Ways to Make the Most of Reading with Your Kids is a great resource to learn more about Pre-reading skills. One of the easiest and more fun parts of modeling is teaching them how to chose what to read. Just take an interest and follow it! If you are here and now I would say your child has an interest in Dinosaurs. Here are some of my favorite Dino Themed books and learning activities for beginning readers!

Print Awareness and Print Motivation

Fiction

Non Fiction

Create a Dinosaur mask to act out the stories while you read or to wear when practicing the ABCs! Get printable in my Busy Box Download Library and check out the how-to-make it video coming soon!

Letter Knowledge

Learning the ABCs usually starts with the ABC Song and flashcards. We learn the names and shapes of the letters. Here are some cool Dino Footprint ABC flashcards I created. They are available in my Teacher Pay Teacher Store and occasionally on Freebie Friday in the Facebook Group. Check out YouTube for cool ideas to play with these flashcards coming soon!

Every Busy Box I create also gets a Word/ Letter wand for fun practice identifying words and letters when reading. The Word and Letter Wands are in my Busy Box Download Library. Check out YouTube for how to use it- Coming soon!

Phonemic Awareness

This stage of pre-reading is all about learning the letter sounds. Use the flashcards again and this time focus on the sounds each letter makes when we read them. Once all the sounds have been introduced we can create Consonant Vowel Consonant words with the letters! I always add a CVC word-building mat to my busy boxes. Check out the mat on TPT and the Video of how to play Stamp the Dinosaur Feet words on YouTube- coming soon.

Word Walls are excellent Learning tools and create a sense of confidence and independence in young writers. Here is an awesome set of Dinosaur Word Wall Words to inspire young writers. Print them out at Teacher Pay Teacher and watch how to use them on YouTube- Coming soon. Learn more about Word Walls Here!

Here are some other Dinosaur Themed reading toys available on Amazon! Great to have these goodies to add fun and play to any busy box.

Pre-Writing

Fine Motor Skills

I always say these skills are about more than just writing. Their are lots of ways to strengthen those little writing muscles without using a pen or pencil!

Tweezer Play

Playdough

Scissor Practice

Puzzle Building

Dinosaur Crayons

Pre-Math

There are many fun games to play while practicing beginning math skills. Check out some cute dinosaur manipulative toys that are wonderful for counting, creating sets, comparing, sorting! I always create a 10 Frame and Number line for each Busy Box Theme. Print it at Teacher Pay Teacher and check out how to play with it on YouTube- coming soon.

Use these cool Dino #Flash Cards to learn the number names and shapes. You can also create sets with these cool cards. Find them on Teacher Pay Teacher and watch how to play on YouTube- coming soon.

Here are some other very cool Dinosaur toy learning tools for Math on Amazon!