Dino Week!

This is pretty embarrassing, but we basically took Thanksgiving through New Year's week OFF from school. With two trips to SC and all the holiday busyness in between, it seemed impossible. But, as of Monday, we are back on track! We kicked off the week learning about dinosaurs. This eased us back into the school routine, because what little boy doesn't love talking all things dinosaurs?!

Besides our daily journal and worksheets, we added a couple fun dino activities. On Monday, we made peanut butter cookies. The recipe is here: http://www.creationsbykara.com/2013/11/old-fashioned-peanut-butter-cookies.html/.

I pressed mine with a fork, but the boys took turns stamping dino footprints, or fossils, into theirs. They turned out really cute and yummy!

Of course we talked about different types of dinosaurs and their prints, fossils, and we discussed the job of a paleontologist. 

Lastnight before bed, I saw another great dino-themed idea on Pinterest: dino eggs that actually hatch! They were easy to make and required a few items that most people would have on hand. 

I poured baking soda into a bowl, added a few drops of green food coloring, then slowly mixed in some water until I had sort of a dry paste. I pressed a glob in my palm, laid a tiny dino on top, then covered the dino in more paste in the shape of an egg.

The dino eggs hardened overnight and the boys were excited to break into them this morning (at 6:30 am...). I gave them droppers, a bowl of vinegar, and then they went to work. 

The eggs "fizzed" whenever the vinegar touched them and the boys oohed and ahhed. 

It was a cool activity, and even though Maddox was slightly disappointed that his baby dino wasn't actually REAL, they enjoyed their newly hatched dinos and named them (Jude's is "Casa" and Maddox's is "Sweethead").

We learned some neat facts about Maddox's triceratops and Jude's stegosaurus. 

Maddox's favorites about his dino: he was on TRex's lunch menu, he defended himself with his horns, and he weighed about as much as a truck (5 tons). 

Jude's dino was smaller (2 tons) and a slow-mover, but he used his tail to defend himself, his brain was about the size of a walnut, and he was a herbivore. However, instead of just eating plants, he also ate small stones, possibly to help "mash up" the plants in his belly.

When we talked about him eating stones, Maddox laughed then paused. 

"Oh, Mom! THAT explains why he moved so slow...BECAUSE his belly was full of heavy stones."

Oh, that kid.

He keeps me smiling sometimes.