Habitats

To incorporate the dinosaur study into all the centers in the classroom, I used the topic of habitats at our sand center.  On the Internet and in books the children noticed that pictures showed dinosaurs in places where there were often lots of trees and vegetation.  They also saw that many dinosaur bones were found in places like Drumheller where it is like a desert.  This led us to a discussion about what dinosaurs needed to survive: did they need lots of hot sun and no trees like many lizards today or did they need thick forests?  The children thought they would need water to drink, plants to eat, and places to live. 

The next day I produced a bucket full of dinosaurs and said that I had these extra dinosaurs that we could use in the sand table.  I asked, “How can we make the sand table look like a home for the dinosaurs?  What do we need for them to live?”  Together, we took a pie plate and imbedded it in the sand.  In the plate we poured water for the dinosaurs to drink.  Then we took plants from around the classroom and placed them in the sand (still in their pots – be careful about putting any especially precious plants they do get full of sand).  Finally we added the dinosaurs. 

The children could now reenact dinosaur life: the plant eaters ate the plants (sometimes pretending or sometimes I found leaves really torn off), meat eaters chased other dinosaurs, and they took turns at the water-hole.  During sand play the children discussed with each other and sometimes asked me what different dinosaurs should be doing.  The conversations were very intellectual and enriching!

Submitted by Mrs. Abercrombie