Hands-On Dinosaur Science Unit for Kindergarten

I love incorporating science into my curriculum as much as possible. But with the demands put on us teachers to cover all of the math and literacy standards, it can be hard to find the time to fit science into the school day. And often times our school districts don’t supply us with a science curriculum to follow, or the one that they do provide is quite dull and not engaging enough for our young learners. Our Hands-On Dinosaur Science Unit for Kindergarten is one my students always get excited about!

We are constantly creating and updating our vast collection of science units for pre-k, kindergarten, and first grade. We enjoy designing units that can be used as a whole unit or can be split up and used as supplemental activities to your own curriculum. 

When it comes to teaching science to my kindergarteners, I always start the year with this I am a Scientist science unit. It encourages my students to think like scientists and get excited about the topics that they’ll be studying throughout the school year. My students look forward to fun science experiments such as this M&M rainbow experiment and this magic milk science experiment. They enjoy these experiments so much that I try to do at least four a month with this science experiment pack. 

I’m sure your kindergarteners love animals as much as mine do, so I always incorporate plenty of animal studies throughout the year. This bats animal study is a hit around Halloween and who wouldn’t want to study reindeer in December with this unit? 

And if reindeer and bats sound intriguing to you, wait until you hear about the number one fan-favorite unit of every class I’ve ever taught…

Dinosaurs!

Want to know the secret to getting all of your students, even the ones who are rarely interested, engaged and excited about learning? Teach this hands-on dinosaur science unit! 

Dinosaur Science Unit for Kindergarten

This unit is jam-packed with hands-on and engaging activities that will have your students diving into learning headfirst! Full of dinosaur-themed science activities for kindergarten, this unit will have your students begging for you to fit in science more often. 

This kindergarten dinosaur science unit comes with teacher resources to make you seem like a true dinosaur expert while teaching, plus tons of dinosaur-themed educational activities for you to use with your students. Trust me, after you teach this once, you’ll be adding this dinosaur study for young learners into every year’s lesson plans to come. 

Included in this Hands-On Dinosaur Science Unit:

• Unit Overview
• Dinosaur Lesson Plans
• At-Home Letter
• Teacher Guide
• Science Center and Science Questions
• Book, Video, and Song Lists
• Dinosaurs PowerPoint and Posters
• Dinosaurs Emergent Reader 
• Types of Dinosaurs Posters
• Dinosaur Research Writing
• What Do Dinosaurs Eat Sort
• Paleontologist PowerPoint and Posters
• Cookie Excavation Activity
• If Dinosaurs Came Back Writing
• Dinosaur Writing Center
• Dinosaur Skeleton Posters
• Dinosaur Hook Decor
• Definition Posters
• Types of Dinosaurs Emergent Reader
• Word Wall
• What am I? Emergent Reader
• Dinosaur Bingo
• Label a Dinosaur Activities
• Dinosaurs “Could, Had, Was” Activity
• Build Your Own Dinosaur Craft
• Circle Maps
• Salt Dough Dino Fossil Activity
• Dinosaur Egg Experiment

Materials Needed for this Kindergarten Science Unit

• Copy Paper 
• Colored Copy Paper
• Construction Paper
• Laminator and Laminating Sheets
• Coloring Tools
• Scissors
• Glue

Using the Dinosaur Science Unit for Kindergarten

After you purchase and download this Dinosaur Science Unit for Kindergarten, look through the unit overview and click through the clickable table of contents to see all that is included. Take a look at the provided kindergarten dinosaur lessons and dinosaur activities and decide how you will best fit things into your own curriculum. We highly suggest printing the posters, word cards, and any other reusable materials onto cardstock and laminating them so that you can use them again in the future. There are so many dinosaur-themed educational resources for kindergarten teachers to use with their students included in this unit, so pick and choose which ones work best for you! And remember to have a blast, I mean who, besides real paleontologists, gets to talk about dinosaurs at work? 

Unit Overview

This overview of the Dinosaur science unit for kindergarten gives you a glimpse of what is included inside the unit. The overview shows all of the exciting dinosaur activities for kids that are included and gives a quick explanation of each resource and how to use it. 

Dinosaur Lesson Plans

Use our week-long lesson plans to help plan out how you’ll teach this unit! Our lesson plans are just a suggestion, so feel free to move things around and make it work for you. You can find all the resources for these interactive dinosaur lessons in the unit overview and table of contents, making it easy to get ready to teach this unit!

At-Home Letter

Get families involved in their students’ learning with this at-home letter. Simply print, cut, and send home this letter when you start the dinosaur-themed science unit. This allows families a chance to ask their children about what they’re learning and get involved with the material. 

Teacher Guide

Since we know that you might not already be a dinosaur expert, we’ve done some digging for you and wrapped up a bunch of cool dinosaur facts in this teacher guide. Use this guide to give yourself some background knowledge on dinosaurs and to pull out fun facts when students want to know even more about these prehistoric creatures.

Science Center and Science Questions

Use the science center guide to help you set up an engaging science center that encourages dinosaur exploration, and use the provided dinosaur and science questions to engage your students’ critical thinking skills.

Book, Video, and Song Lists

When I’m teaching a certain topic, I love to fit in as many books, videos, and songs about the topic as possible. That’s why we’ve created these clickable book, video, and song lists, full of some great dinosaur resources to use during the unit.

Dinosaurs PowerPoint and Posters

This PowerPoint is full of fun dinosaur facts for kindergarten students and also comes with a matching set of posters to use as a display. This presentation is a great way to start the unit and give students the important information about dinosaurs that they need. 

Dinosaurs Emergent Reader 

Use this simple reader to help students review the dinosaur facts they are learning. This reader is great to use in small groups, to put in the reading center, or to send home with each child.

Types of Dinosaurs Posters

Chances are, the second you start teaching about dinosaurs, some of your students are going to want to share their favorites. We’ve equipped you with this set of posters detailing some of the most popular types of dinosaurs and their stats. 

Dinosaur Research Writing

After teaching students about the different types of dinosaurs, use these research writing pages to have them share facts about what they’ve learned.

What Do Dinosaurs Eat Sort

Learning about dinosaurs is a great time to discuss herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores. Use this sort to discuss the differences between plant-eating and meat-eating dinosaurs.

Paleontologist PowerPoint and Posters

I can pretty much guarantee that after this unit you’ll have some little ones who will want to become paleontologists someday. Use this PowerPoint and a matching set of posters to teach your young students about paleontologists and what their job entails.

Cookie Excavation Activity

After reading “Digging Up Dinosaurs”, engage your students in one of my favorite dinosaur activities for kids: the Cookie Excavation Activity. This hands-on dinosaur science activity is an easy prep. All you need is a pack of cookies and some toothpicks to give your students a “real-life” excavating experience!

If Dinosaurs Came Back Writing

After reading the story “If the Dinosaurs Came Back”, have a discussion with your students about what the world would be like if dinosaurs were still alive. Use the writing response sheets for students to write and draw what they imagine life would be like.

Dinosaur Writing Center

Another way to fit dinosaur-themed classroom activities into the day is with this dinosaur writing center. With both word and picture cards and differentiated writing pages, your students can write and draw fiction and non-fiction sentences and stories about dinosaurs.

Dinosaur Skeleton Posters

Your students will love doing fossil activities during this unit, and these posters are the perfect way to make your students really understand what the bodies of the dinosaurs looked like. My students are always amazed when I pull up a picture of a dog or cat skeleton to compare with the dinosaur ones.

Dinosaur Hook Decor

Including a poster for your door and a footprint template to use on the floor, use this decor to kick off your hands-on dinosaur science unit and to get your students excited to start learning!

Definition Posters

Throughout the unit, there will be a lot of words that might be new to our littlest learners. Use these definition posters to explain the meaning of some of the dinosaur vocabulary words that you’ll be using throughout the unit.

Types of Dinosaurs Emergent Reader

This simple reader goes through the names and pictures of the most popular types of dinosaurs. Your students will be itching to color their own and take the reader home to share with their families.

Word Wall

As you teach new dinosaur vocabulary throughout the week, use our provided word wall cards to display the words that you’re learning. You can keep them in a pocket chart or put them on your word wall. 

What am I? Emergent Reader

This fun reader asks the students questions to see if they can figure out the dinosaur being described in the book! Your students will surely love trying to guess. I put this reader in my reading center for the students to read over and over again.

Dinosaur Bingo

Y’all know by now that we can’t get enough of a good bingo game. So of course we had to make a dinosaur bingo game to go along with this unit. Dinosaur bingo is the perfect way to culminate the unit, or store it away and pull it out on a random rainy day or any day that you need a bit of excitement! 

Label a Dinosaur Activity

After learning about different types of dinosaurs, we’ve created labeling sheets for students to practice showing what they’ve learned about the giant creatures. This activity can be done as a whole group or individually.

Dinosaurs “Could, Had, Was” Activity

After learning about dinosaurs, have your students complete these Dinosaur Could-Had-Was papers with what they have learned about each dinosaur. This can be done independently, in a whole group, or as a brainstorming activity before the Dinosaur Research Writing activity mentioned above.  

Build Your Own Dinosaur Craft

Give your students the provided shape pieces and a blank piece of paper and send them on their way to create their own dinosaur using the shapes. They can even add a sentence to extend the activity and draw a background as well.

Circle Maps

I use circle maps as graphic organizers with my students, either in a whole group setting or as independent student work. Circle maps can be used before teaching about dinosaurs to see what students already know, or after teaching so that students can draw and write about what they’ve learned.

Salt Dough Dino Fossil Activity

As part of the STEM dinosaur activities for kindergarteners in this unit, we’ve provided you with a recipe for salt dough to use with your students. After making the dough, challenge students to create their own fossils that look like the real ones that have been shown throughout the unit.

Dinosaur Egg Experiment

There are a lot of hands-on dinosaur science experiments to use with kids out there, but this dinosaur egg experiment is one of my favorites. Your students can pretend to be paleontologists while taking part in this experiment that only needs basic, common materials to complete.

Download the Dinosaur Science Unit for Kindergarten today!

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Our Hands-on Dinosaur Science Unit blends fun with learning, allowing our kindergartners to immerse themselves in the thrilling world of dinosaurs.

Want a year’s worth of science units to use with your kindergarteners?

Dive into a prehistoric adventure with our Hands-on Dinosaur Science Unit for Kindergarten. Engaging activities and fascinating dinosaur facts will captivate your young learners!