Do you ever feel that your troubles are dormant dinosaurs just waiting to spring to life? Our brains can’t always correctly identify and figure out problems without training. As the stegosaurus’ frill was a defense mechanism, so were your troubles.
Problem-solving is a skill that’s best developed over a series of steps – first identifying the problem, then formulating a plan to solve it, and then implementing it. Research shows that your child can learn this skill like any other.
Allow your young dinosaur to imagine and create their problems. There’s a world of imagination and curiosity in every child. Why not take a different approach? The Stegosaurus toy is artfully designed to get kids’ creative juices flowing. This article will teach kindergartners how to explore new solutions to everyday problems.
Dinosaur Learning Lesson: Problem Solving Steps
Bullying poses a problem in many schools today. Children need to learn how to stand up for themselves, and educators can help by teaching them these skills. Bullying is a two-sided problem: the bully and the victim.
Regardless, it’s important to remember that both play a role in the outcome. Bullying can be hard to identify because the behavior often goes back and forth between the perpetrator and the victim. Fortunately, numerous sites and books can help us determine what we need to do. Let’s discuss some of them.
Engage Phase
Stegosaurus is a great way to show students how to engage with big problems. Students are introduced to Stegosaurus by their teacher, who takes the role of a scientist studying the dinosaur. Students are tasked with figuring out its habits, feeding patterns, and how it might have come to extinction.
With the help of a teacher to guide them, the kids are shown many pictures of dinosaurs. They must use the clues in the images to identify which dinosaur it is. The students guess what Stegosaurus eats, where it lives, why it might be extinct, etc.
This method teaches them to identify problems, find solutions, and apply what they already know. Students need to learn these three things to succeed in the workplace and in life, so this is a handy tool for all students.
In addition to learning these skills, students who have had trouble speaking up in classes will also be more comfortable speaking up because the teacher has modeled what assertive behavior looks like. The teacher can suggest that students speak up if they want to ask a question or share an idea.
Engage Activity 1: Stegosaurus the Solutions Detective
An activity like this might start with an introduction to the concept of solutions detectives. A detective’s job is to solve problems, so when you’re a solutions detective, you solve problems for people.
The first step for the Stegosaurus puppet to be a solutions detective is to get in his thinking cap. If you were the person with the problem, what would you want someone to help you figure out? What kinds of things are difficult for a child your age? How might you try to solve that problem?
Provide a briefcase or box with pictures of solutions to typical problems. It should include good answers to the following issues:
- Getting out of bed in the morning
- How to put on your shoes
- How to put on clothes
- How to get dressed for school
When kindergartners come up with ideas for solving these problems, write them down on paper strips and put them into Stegosaurus’ Thinking Cap. Teachers will need these for the Stegosaurus puppet when it’s time for him to be a solutions detective.
After everyone has come up with some ideas, talk about how there are many ways of doing things. Things can go wrong sometimes because we don’t know all the different ways we could do something. Discuss all the problem-solving ideas with the help of the Stegosaurus puppet so that kindergartners can choose the best solution for their problems.
Now that kindergartners identified some reasonable solutions, they can decide which solution works best for their problem and go ahead and implement it.
Engage Activity 2: Story Video
While story videos like those made by Morris Stegosaurus do have entertainment value, the educational benefit of watching them is how they help children develop literacy and cognitive skills.
When teachers teach students about a topic about dinosaurs through a story, they can understand the subject better than if given straight facts. The story can show them how the facts relate to each other and how they affect their lives.
The story video is one tool teachers can use to engage their students in learning. When using a story video, teachers should always explain what is being learned from the video before showing it to the class.
After showing the video, teachers can use it as a jumping-off point for discussing what children learn from the video or how something related they may use in real life (e.g., how Morris stays cool in hot weather). Teachers can also incorporate further activities into their lesson plans based on the content presented in story videos like this one.
Study Phase
When working with a child struggling to cope, it’s essential first to identify the problem. Kids can get frustrated if they don’t understand how each person’s actions affect them.
The next step is to brainstorm solutions. If you can’t think of any yourself, ask them what they think will help—they’ll be more invested in the answer if they helped come up with the plan. But remember that there may not always be solutions to every problem, and it’s important not to force kids into thinking that a solution exists so they can feel like they’re accomplishing something.
After you’ve identified some solutions, try identifying as many other solutions as possible—kids need lots of practice learning and using the keys. That way, when they’re trying out a new one in an actual situation, it won’t seem like such an ordeal, and when one solution doesn’t work well enough, others can be adjusted or used instead.
You mustn’t constantly rescue your child from every single problem they have. Each time you do this, you are teaching your child that you will always be the one who solves their problems. It’s easy for children to think they should expect you to fix everything, but it’s pretty harmful to their development if they don’t learn how to solve their problems.
Study Activity 1: Dinosaur Field Guide
Kids are natural explorers who are eager to learn about their world. One way of teaching them how to read is by introducing them to different material they would come across daily, like road signs, restaurant menus, or even book summaries for stories such as “The Stegosaurus.” It’s simple, engaging, and full of opportunities for discussion.
It doesn’t matter what kind of transcript it is as long as it captures their attention, which is certainly possible if it has illustrations and colorful characters similar to those found in children’s books. Reading to kindergartners helps them with reading comprehension, vocabulary, and sequence of events in a story.
Study Activity 2: Dinosaur Worksheet
Colouring worksheets are great because they engage the child’s imagination. Kindergartners see an image on paper that they can color in any way they like and get a chance to use their skill and creativity. This activity allows teachers to teach them about Stegosaurus while they have fun coloring pictures of these prehistoric animals.
Activate Phase
When a student is being teased, how do you think that student feels? Maybe even the most confidence among us would feel isolated, alone, and out of control. Or perhaps we’d feel confused, frustrated, and like we’re doing something wrong. It’s not constructive to add stress to an uncomfortable situation.
Unsolicited advice can appear judgmental about students’ actions, making them feel misunderstood or defensive. This advice can lead to the student responding angrily or shutting down completely. Instead of jumping in with something that feels good to say but might not apply to the particular situation, it’s better to ask students what they think their options are and then help them identify the pros and cons of each option.
It can be both in terms of the problem itself (e.g., will it stop my classmates from teasing me?) and how it makes them feel (e.g., will it make me feel worse about myself?). This advice can give the student more control over their choices at the moment and allow them to work toward a solution together with someone who cares about their wellbeing.
Activate Activity 1: Dinosaur Songs for Kids
The best dinosaur songs for kids rely on rhyme because children learn best when they memorize something through repetition. The words of these songs may not necessarily produce any logical meaning in your child’s mind, but once they have heard a song several times, they will begin to associate certain words with images. Rhyme makes learning fun. If children repeat a song often enough, your child will eventually start to pick up on the plot line or the main idea behind it.
Activate Activity 2: Dinosaur Dot-to-Dot
Dinosaur dot-to-dots are fun, easy, and helpful for beginning readers. They’re perfect for encouraging kindergartners to figure out what’s next on the page and to make logical connections.
Begin with a simple word list (or a list of numbers) and have children connect the dots to create a dinosaur. You can use several different colors for the dots, which will help with visual recognition of the shape and size of the dinosaur.
The children will have fun coloring their dinosaurs once they’re done working on them. This activity is excellent for fine motor skills, hand coordination, and helping kids learn about patterns and sequence.
Funtime at Home: Educational Games
Children playing educational games about dinosaurs will learn more about these incredible creatures that lived on our planet millions of years ago. They will also learn basic facts about biology, geography, and chemistry. In addition, they will develop their cognitive thinking skills, improve their motor skills and learn some logic puzzles if they play the suitable game.
Home is a perfect place to use educational games. The atmosphere at home is relaxing and informal, and children must learn to relax while learning. Educational games can be a reward system for children and a tool to help them learn valuable skills.
The Dinosaur Fun Corner Library
These activities are a great resource to tap into if you are looking for activities to engage your young learners and attract their attention toward science. This collection of resources presents a plethora of topics that delve deep into dinosaur-related information, which will be suitable for kindergarten children.
Dinosaur Field Guide: Stegosaurus (Covered Lizard)
When you first hear “Stegosaurus,” you might imagine a fearsome, scaly monster with sharp teeth and a massive spiked tail. It was just the opposite. The Stegosaurus was quite cute! It had a small head, a narrow snout with leaf-shaped teeth, and its tail was not nearly as intimidating as it looked. Stegosaurus was primarily grey and brown with darker markings.
The plates on its back were dark grey to black, with lighter grey on their tops. Its flanks were light grey to white. It had a paler belly, ranging from yellowish to pinkish. It also had a large bony plate on its shoulders that may have been brightly colored in life, making it look even more like a giant reptilian toy.
The Stegosaurus was a herbivorous dinosaur that lived about 155 to 152 million years ago during the Jurassic period. Researchers believe it reached 17 feet and was 10 feet tall at its back. It weighed about 2.5 tons when fully grown. This huge, bulky dinosaur is one of the most well-known dinosaurs due to its distinctive plates, which resemble the plates that form on the backs of armadillos and other animals today.
It got the name Stegosaurus because it had two rows of bony plates down its back (which looked like a roof or a house) and an additional pair of spikes extending from each hip. Its scientific name is Stegosaurus Armatus, meaning “covered lizard.”
The dinosaur had four short legs, each with five toes ending in tiny claws. Many scientists believe that these small claws helped the animal hold onto tree trunks while it browsed for food with its mouth.
Stegosaurus was a quadruped, meaning it walked on all fours, but it could have reared up on its hind legs when necessary. Some experts believe it could rear up on its hind legs like a modern-day elephant would if it needed to defend itself.
Story Video: Staying Cool with Morris Stegosaurus
The story video adds value to this early engagement stage of learning because it allows children to learn about dinosaurs from the prehistoric era and interact through high-quality images with voice-over.
Dinosaur Songs for Kids: Dinosaurs Under the Sea! | Song
When planning lessons in the activated phase of a curriculum sequence, it is essential to look at the tools you can use to make your lesson plan more appealing. The dinosaur songs for kindergartens may be a great thing to consider as they are helpful for double stimulation of both the vestibular system and proprioceptive system.
Dinosaur Crafts: Invent Your Version of Dino Ball
Dinosaur crafts can help children engage their imaginations and show them how exciting dinosaurs are, encouraging them to learn more about these incredible animals. It is always better to learn with an example in hand, and it is also essential to pay attention to children’s fine motor skills.
Worksheets: Dinosaur Train Wrapping Paper
Dinosaur worksheets for kindergartens stimulate children’s minds and develop the skills that their young brains need for progress in the study phase of learning.
Educational Games: Bridge Builder
Kids love to play games, so that educational dinosaur games will get a child’s attention faster than traditional education teaching techniques. Educating young children using fun methods is an excellent way to make learning more entertaining.
Dinosaur Final Thoughts
Problem-solving is a skill that not all children will have, but it is one that they should learn. The three main steps in problem-solving are 1) what is my problem, 2) what are some solutions, and 3) what are some other solutions? By giving them these three steps toward problem-solving, you are helping them open their eyes to how they can tackle problems.
The Stegosaurus puppet was a valuable tool to teach problem-solving skills because it encouraged students to think out loud and reflect during problem-solving. Once they can solve problems, they will no longer have to tell you what’s wrong but show you what to do to fix it. This skill is just as important as reading and writing, and teachers should teach it in school.
