Stomp, chomp, and ROAR to the end of the year with Dinosaur Day! My students love all things dinosaurs so celebrating the end of the school year with dinosaur themed activities is an exciting way to make learning in the last few days of school fun and educational.
Prepping for Dinosaur Day
Before this day begins, I send home the letter explaining to the parents that the class will be creating a dinosaur museum. I ask them to send in all things dinosaurs to create and build this as a center in the classroom. As your students come in on the morning of Dinosaur Day, I make sure to have a designated table for them to set out their materials in the museum. I have a no-prep printable sign you can display on the table.
If you don’t have a lot of parent involvement, no worries. You can easily skip this or head to your local library and grab all the dinosaur books you can find. You can also call ahead, and they will do the work for you! Don’t forget to hang your printable Dinosaur Day signs up, too. When my student see the sign, it automatically ignites their excitement for learning that day!
Nonfiction Dinosaur Reading Activities
First thing in the morning, we will begin an anchor chart, either a KWL chart or Schema and New Learning Chart, to gather what they know about dinosaurs, raise some questions, and dig into learning. Next, we will read the All About Dinosaurs book that is included. I like to project the book with real photos on the interactive board and read together up front.
Then, I pass out the mini readers and we get busy working on reviewing those nonfiction informative text features. My favorite activity is the hands-on text features hunt! My students love having the paper copy so they can highlight, circle, and reference the text for their answers. After the text feature hunt, I usually choose one or two activities that I feel the students need a little more review on. It could be the glossary, table of contents, heading, details, diagram, labels, or clarifying meaning.
Dinosaur Crafts
After learning about these extinct animals, we do a craft to create our own dinosaurs. I have to admit that I got a little carried away and made three different printable dinosaur crafts. You could do one together and use the other ones to put in centers for later in the day too! I’ve also included a printable “We Are Dino-Mite” sign you can use for a bulletin board display.
Fiction Dinosaur Reading Activities
Before moving into independent review and learning, I like to enjoy a little fiction book on dinosaurs. I created several reading comprehension activities to go along with the book, “How to Catch a Dinosaur”. If you want to use other dinosaur picture books, I have several suggestions included here with templates that can be used for any of them. You can find dinosaur book suggestions on my Amazon list (as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases).
Dinosaur Day Centers
The rest of the day we spend working in centers rotating around the room and exploring different activities. I have my dinosaur signs displayed for the centers, and students get a checklist to move about freely when there is an opening. By this point in the year, they have this down and love spending time exploring and working at their own pace. I tried to differentiate the activities so you could pick and choose and customize what is best for your students.
Here’s a peek at all the activities you have to choose from for your own centers.
Adopt a Dinosaur Center
Use plastic eggs or purchase the eggs you can crack to find a mini dinosaur inside. Students can fill out the information about their dinosaur and the adoption certificate. I have included dinosaur fact sheets with images so they can use them to identify the type of dinosaur they have as well. These fact sheets can also be used for research and as a sorting activity. Students can sort them by period, size, or diet. I’ve included options for purchasing eggs and mini dinosaurs on my Amazon list.
Dinosaur Math Activities
There are several no-prep multilevel dinosaur math games, from addition to 10 for kindergarten to single-digit multiplication for second and third grade. In addition, there are multi-level write-the-room and scoot activities with recording sheets, too. You can also use the printable worksheets at the centers.
Here’s a list of all the dinosaur math activities included:
Dinosaur Stomp (multi-level 3 options)
- Addition to 10
- Addition to 20
- Single Digit Multiplication
Dino-Mite Bingo
- Addition to 12
- Plus 10 to 16
- Multiplication up to 6×6
Roll, Stacks, or Slides 3D Coverall
Dinosaur Shapes # of Sides Coverall
Counting Fossils Scoot/Write the Room (multi-level 5 options)
- Counting to 20
- Counting by 2 to 40
- Counting by 10 to 200
- Counting by 5 to 100
- Counting by 100 to 2,000
Counting Bones Worksheet (multi-level options)
- Counting to 20
- Counting by 5 to 100
- Counting by 12 to 240 (multiplication)
- Counting by 9 to 180 (multiplication)
Counting Ten Frames Scoot/Write the Room (multi-level 5 options)
- Counting eggs to 20
- Counting eggs by 2 to 40
- Counting eggs by 4 to 80 (multiplication)
- Counting eggs by 8 to 160 (multiplication)
- Counting eggs by 50 to 1,000 (multiplication)
Dinosaur Literacy Activities
The dinosaur literacy center activities are set up the same as math, with many options including Bingo games, worksheets, and task card write the room scoot activities.
Here’s a list of the dinosaur literacy activities included:
Word Work Activities
- Phonics Task Cards/Scoot/Write the Room (multi level 3 options)
- CVC Mixed 24 cards color/b&w answer key included
- Open or Closed Syllables 24 cards color/b&w answer key included
- Digraph CK 24 cards color/b&w answer key included
- Glued Sounds Bingo
- Digraph CH or SH Bingo
Grammar Task Cards/SCOOT/Write the Room (multi-level 3 options)
- Prefixes 24 cards color/b&w answer key included
- A or An Articles 24 cards color/b&w answer key included
- Synonyms or Antonyms 24 cards color/b&w answer key included
- Dinosaur Name Decoding Cards 3/page & 6/page
Worksheets
- Syllables
- ABC Order
- Word Search
- Unscramble
- Punctuation
- Making Words
Dinosaur Writing Activities
I’ve also included a 7-page Dinosaur Research template that guides students through learning about habitats, diets, and fun facts so they can write a dinosaur report or enjoy researching different dinosaurs. The printable dinosaur report template includes a cover page, animal, characteristics, habitat, food, fun facts, and photos.
Closing the Day: Museum Visit & Reflection
Students tour the classroom museum, observing artifacts and sharing discoveries. This is a great time to reflect on their learning and celebrate their dinosaur knowledge!
With a mix of structured and independent activities, Dinosaur Day is the perfect way to engage students in literacy, math, and science—all while having a roaring good time!
More End of the Year Theme Days
Dinosaur Day is one of many end-of-the-year theme days I have created to make learning fun in the last weeks of school. I’ve included Dinosaur Day in several End of the Year bundles. You can find it in my End of the Year Bundle 3 which includes 6 theme days.
It’s also included in my End of the Year Mega Bundle with 18 days of fun!
Or go big with my ABC Countdown to Summer Bundle, which includes all of my End of the Year Theme Days at a big discount!
You can also read more about these awesome End of the Year theme days here:
