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Does your young dinosaur have a temper tantrum when asked to clean his room? Anger can sometimes interfere with problem-solving and keep children from hearing the information being taught. Difficult situations in life can cause frustration and anger, which are normal emotions, but that doesn’t mean it’s healthy. It’s common for kids to be angry at their parents when reprimanded.
Where do you start to help your child when they’re angry? Try a dinosaur intervention. T.Rex learned a little about anger management and how to manage his feelings in non-violent ways. He knows that when others make bad and dangerous choices, it is not okay to get angry.
You need to ask them to change their behavior and tell an adult if someone is being unsafe. If you teach your child these tools, then you’ll be helping them have more control over their emotions. And this will help your family thrive.
Meet Tyrannosaurus Rex, a puppet that helps kids learn to control their anger. Taking the next step will add a powerful weapon to your parenting arsenal. Your child’s future is in your hands, don’t put it at risk by assuming they will know how to handle situations as they age. This article will explain how the Tyrannosaurus Rex puppet can help kindergartners manage their anger.
Learning Lesson: Anger Management
One of the essential skills kindergartners can learn is how to manage their anger. This section will help them to understand what emotional intelligence is and how it can make a difference in managing anger effectively and appropriately.
Engage Phase
When trying to help kindergartners with anger management issues, some teachers find it easier to use a T. Rex puppet to get the students to tune into their feelings rather than focusing on the situation that upsets them.
The idea behind the approach is that kids feel safer when they can take comfort in something—even if it’s a plush dinosaur. They can learn how to relax and cope with difficult emotions through visualization exercises and breathing techniques.
“What does T. Rex do when he’s feeling angry?” you might ask your class of children. For T. rex, it’s different: he goes out and digs up some more dinosaur bones.” Teachers train their kindergarten to go inside their imaginary shells and think about why they are mad.
While they’re in their shell, they can’t be hurt by anything outside.” A big part of encouraging your students to learn about anger management is being able to identify their emotions.
Talk about what happens when we’re upset—we can feel angry, sad, or scared—and that those are all okay feelings. They need to understand that when we feel mad, we can choose how we want to express it. We can direct our anger in ways that don’t hurt others.
Engage Activity 1: Circle Time
As the lesson plan suggests, Tyrannosaurus Rex will come into class wearing a turtle shell on his back. This method will allow him to demonstrate how he “coaches” himself into feeling calmer when upset.
Encourage the children to sit in a circle with a flannel board, a small stuffed animal, or a puppet (Tyrannosaurus Rex is perfect) and name their scary feelings as they move around the circle. When holding the object, they take three deep breaths, count up to ten, and say, “I can calm down.”
When they feel calmer, they can go into their imaginary shells for a break. During that time, children reflect on the situation that upset them. Explain to the kindergartners how to make an imaginary shell.
- When you’re having trouble calming down, find a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed.
- Sit in this place with your eyes closed and imagine a big, thick, rough-textured wall around you. It feels like wood or stone. It protects you from everything happening outside it because nothing can get through.
- Think about what made you upset. Picture it in detail. Use your senses—what are you thinking, feeling, seeing, and hearing?
- When you feel ready, you can try again with a solution to the problem.
Encourage them to devise problem-solving in small steps before “trying again” with the solution. This method will help them focus on calming down instead of reacting impulsively.
This calming technique can be used as a replacement for hitting or kicking when they are upset. When the child feels calm, ask them what they could do next time that would be helpful instead of using physical violence.
Study Phase
The T. Rex puppet is a perfect tool for teaching young children about appropriate anger management because of his enormous size and fierce temper. During the “What’s My Problem?” lesson, students work with the T. Rex puppet to demonstrate that anger can interfere with problem-solving and how to control their anger reactions.
The T. Rex puppet teaches students that it is okay to feel angry, but they do not have the right to physically hurt anyone or destroy things. Children learn it is not all right to hit someone when angry because we need our hands and feet to do something like play games, draw pictures, and hold hands with friends—and hitting people hurts them.
The Tyrannosaurus Rex puppet encourages children to be kind and respectful to each other, resolve their differences peacefully, not hit or yell at others, and avoid bullying. Students learn that if another person gets mad at them, there are many ways to deal with this appropriately. For example, they can walk away from the situation and remove themselves from the other person’s presence.
When students learn that the Tyrannosaurus Rex puppet won’t allow any child to use him—or any other Tyrannosaurus Rex puppet—to hurt other children physically or psychologically, they learn something essential. They realize they have nothing to fear if someone gets mad at them.
The Tyrannosaurus Rex puppet encourages children to be respectful in their behavior toward others—even if they feel angry about something. Students learn that getting mad and yelling at another person is not acceptable.
The point of this lesson is for children to understand that, while there are times when they might be angry or frustrated, they shouldn’t act out their feelings by hurting others or themselves.
Kindergartners will learn that although it may not feel good at the time, being able to recognize and control their emotions is a skill that will serve them well both at school and in the real world.
Study Activity 1: Dinosaur Field Guide
This activity is excellent for teaching kindergartners how to listen actively. When you ask them questions about the dinosaur field guide transcript, you are looking for more than just a yes or no answer. You want them to be able to explain why they think something is true based on the transcript that you read to them.
For example, if you ask them if Tyrannosaurus Rex had feathers or not, don’t accept “yes” or “no” as an answer from your students — ask them why they think so based on what they heard from this reading activity.
This activity also teaches children how important it is to listen carefully when a teacher is reading something aloud. Explain to them that if they don’t understand something said by someone else, the teacher, or their parents, they should ask them for clarification before moving forward with anything else.
Activate Phase
If teachers are willing to make role-playing a part of their lesson plans, they can use T. Rex puppets to help their students practice social skills through fun and relatable scenarios. The more real-life and high stakes the situations are, the more likely the students will be able to practice the lessons later.
The role plays in this lesson are meant to help kids understand their feelings and their actions, as well as to help them practice alternative responses to anger. The teacher will speak with a T. Rex puppet and ask the kids to play the roles of other students, parents, and the principal. After the first role play, the teacher will discuss emotions with the students, using puppets to illustrate.
The first role play warns children to watch out for each other and not let anyone bully them. Bullying and teasing can be unpleasant for children, but they can remember how to deal with such situations by thinking about what they learned at school. They can talk about what’s happening in the story: “Are you scared? What can you do about it? How does it make you feel?”
One student will play with the T. Rex puppet for the first time while the others try to get his attention through role-playing. If he is feeling anxious, distracted, or nervous that he may harm himself or another person, encourage him to take deep breaths, count to ten, keep a cool head, and act appropriately.
Activate Activity 1: The T. Rex Puppet
The children will be allowed to act out a short role-play with a T. Rex puppet to help them understand what it means to manage their anger. In this activity, the teacher will discuss the importance of expressing kindergartners’ emotions healthily. The teacher will be using anger management tools with the kindergartners.
The first tool is STOP. This word stands for Stop, Think, Observe, and Plan. Teachers can use the T. Rex puppet to explain to children when something happens that makes them angry, they must stop what they’re doing and think about whether it’s worth getting mad about or not. If it is, they should observe what happened (what did they do) and plan to deal with it if it happens again.
Next is THINK before acting out your anger by saying anything hurtful or mean towards someone else. Use the T. Rex puppet to help kindergartners think about how other children might feel if they were on the receiving end of their words before speaking them out loud. When angry, it’s easy to say things without thinking about the consequences.
Finally, there is PUSH away any feelings of anger until later when you’ve calmed down enough. Teachers can use the T. Rex puppet to explain that this stage is a tough time for them, and they probably have a lot of strong emotions floating around inside. Tell the kindergartners to think clearly without feeling overwhelmed by their anger.
They should take deep breaths and count up to ten, regain their composure, and hold it for as long as possible. Help them understand that it’s better to let go of the anger and frustration as they breathe out slowly. Kindergartners should practice this method regularly to help them make calm and rational decisions about how to handle a situation.
Through this method, the children will be able to identify what makes T. Rex upset and learn ways to help him feel better. In addition, they will know that it is okay to be angry sometimes and that talking about their feelings can help them calm down.
The Dinosaur Fun Corner Library
This section has games, songs, and activities about dinosaurs for kids to learn about these incredible prehistoric animals. These musical activities teach children several facts about dinosaurs, such as how they were named and how scientists classify them.
Dinosaur Field Guide: Tyrannosaurus (Tyrant Lizard)
While the Tyrannosaurus Rex has become synonymous with the image of the terrifying, city-destroying monster, it was a stealthy predator that fed on small mammals, lizards, and other dinosaurs. Tyrannosaurus was very large, weighing 12 tons; however, it had light bones that made it possible to move quickly. Scientists think this dinosaur could move at speeds up to 35 miles per hour.
Tyrannosaurus is known for its massive head and powerful jaw muscles. It had two sets of teeth–it used the inner ones for grabbing and crushing, while the outer ones were serrated like steak knives to cut through the meat.
This dinosaur’s bite could exert more than 7 tons per square inch pressures- enough to pulverize bones instantly. Although Tyrannosaurus had large teeth, they did not grow back like those of many modern-day reptiles.
“Rex,” which means “king” in Latin, is part of its name. The first fossilized skeleton was found in Montana by a fossil hunter. Initially, people believed that it was an entirely new species. The T.Rex was closely related to another smaller Tyrannosaurus species called Nanotyrannus.
Story Video: More Types of Dinosaur Families!
Research on how kids learn in kindergarten shows that children need engagement to learn effectively. Since children respond well to visuals, texts, and simple story-telling, 3D story videos can compellingly engage young learners.
Dinosaur Songs for Kids: I’m a T-Rex!
Dinosaur songs are a great way of sparking interest in little dino enthusiasts to learn about these fantastic creatures and can be a great addition to any dinosaur-themed lesson plan for kindergartners.
Dinosaur Crafts: How to Make a Simple Bird Feeder
Dinosaur crafts for kindergartners help children engage more with the content. The best thing is that it keeps them active while they are learning.
Worksheets: Dinosaur Train Ornament
These dinosaur worksheets for kindergartners provide creative activities that activate learning phases and encourage children to observe, explore and discover new things through play.
Educational Games: Dinosaur Dive
With innovative educational games, kids can experience the excitement of dinosaurs while developing critical thinking skills necessary in life.
Dinosaur Final Thoughts
The way teachers encourage kids to think about the T. Rex puppet can significantly impact kids’ ability to manage anger in the classroom. If kids understand that their behavior influences the puppet’s movement, their awareness of their behavior should also increase.
This reason is why teachers must encourage students to use the T. Rex puppet often—to help them notice how they feel and act. If students know that they can modify their feelings, they’ll have better control over those feelings in the future.
It’s all a learning process, and beginning this early in life will hopefully make things easier.
