Looking for ideas for a Dinosaur Unit Study that isn’t for preschoolers? Here is what we used for ours.
Dinosaur Unit Study
I wanted to do a Dinosaur study with my kids ages 8 and 11 but when I searched for ideas everything seemed to be for toddlers or preschoolers. So I had to look extra carefully and be creative. I share here what I came up with as well as ideas we didn’t use but definitely could have.
What is a Unit Study?
A unit study in homeschool language is when you pick a topic that you want your children to learn about. Then you create lesson plans surrounding that topic. Sometimes you use unit studies just for science for example. So everything you do is just for that class. Or sometimes you pick a theme and use it in a cross-curricular way. So for example with dinosaurs, for language arts you write about dinosaurs, for math, you count with dinosaurs and for science you learn about which dinosaur is which.
Unit Studies for Science
I chose to use Unit Studies for our Science and Social Studies. That doesn’t mean we won’t do writing or reading about it but we will continue with our math and language arts curriculums. We do science twice a week and we decided to do Dinosaurs for one month. So we did Dinosaurs approximately 8 times a month.
Dinosaur Unit Study Activities
Note all of these activities will work with ages 8+.
Kits/Puzzles
The kits we didn’t use because we’re on a budget but they look good.
Contains affiliate links.
Books
These are some of the books I either owned or we got from the library. I’m only sharing the ones we really found interesting.
Contains affiliate links
Bone Poems by Jeff Moss (We used this for Poetry Tea Time)
Danger, Dinosaurs! – Canadian Flyer Adventures (We used this as a read aloud. It was a bit babyish and I’d recommend more like 4-7 but would work for older kids if they like younger stories or are special needs perhaps)
Ken Jenning’s Junior Genius Guides – Dinosaurs (we read aloud parts of it)
My Visit to the Dinosaurs by ALIKI
What Was the Age of the Dinosaurs? by Megan Stine
First Facts about Prehistoric Animals (can’t find it anywhere, try this one:
Prehistoric Actual Size (covers more than dinosaurs)
Printables and Powerpoints
Evolve or Perish Printable Board Game
The following printables and other resources are from Twinkl.ca of which most are not free. HOWEVER if you signup for their newsletter, they send a few emails a month and most of them allow you to download a normally paid item for free. Alternately you can pay for a membership for just a month and download as much as you need during that time.
How Dinosaurs Lived Powerpoint
Dinosaur Themed Writing Activity Pack
Dinosaur Information Matching Games
and so much MORE to choose from. Search dinosaur on twinkl.ca.
Field Trips
Smithsonian Museum of Natural History – we took a virtual tour.
Canadian Museum of Nature – virtual tour
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County – virtual tour
This post has a list of other virtual and in person dinosaur museums around the US and Canada.
Documentaries
BBC Earth: Walking with Dinosaurs Episode 1
Britain’s Deadliest Prehistoric Predators
Other
Dinosaur Eggs You Can Eat (we didn’t make these because my kids don’t like hard boiled eggs but it seems fun!)
Dinosaur Science (do NOT eat this! We didn’t try this but it looks interesting.)
If you have ideas please share in the comments! I hope this was helpful. Please consider following my homeschool and lifestyle YouTube Channel Bailey Academy.
Speak Your Mind