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We put PLAY in capital letters because it is so important to human development.

It is the vehicle children use to learn, cope, self correct and explore the world. CMoR is so dedicated to promoting play we incorporate it into everything we do.

Each week we will post on the website a new ‘PLAY of the Week’ activity for you to do with your family. It will be an unplugged activity that can be done at the dining room table, in the tub, at the park or just about any place.

Dinosaur Hunt

Pretend to be a paleontologist and hunt for dinosaurs!

Prep:

• Cut out approximately 20 dinosaur footprints from construction paper or computer paper.
• Print out a picture of a dinosaur, find a dinosaur stuffed animal, or draw your own!

Activity:

• Have your child close their eyes while you put down dinosaur footprints leading toward your picture/stuffed dinosaur.
• Have your child open their eyes and look for the footprints.
• When they find the footprints they need to follow the dinosaur footprint trail by tip toeing so they don’t scare off the dinosaur.
• At the end of the dinosaur trail they should find the dinosaur.
• Then they can pick it up, and move around walking and roaring like a dinosaur.

Alternatives:

• Have them count the footprints
• Have different colored footprints and they can only follow one color---they can’t get distracted by the other color footprints
• Go on a hunt for a different animal
• Eliminate the footprints and instead give them verbal clues about where the dinosaur is hidden
• Camouflage the dinosaur and teach them about animals blending into their surroundings in order to stay safe from predators.
• Once they get the hang of it let them hid the dinosaur and you find it.
• For older kids, make a map and give them directions to follow. For example, turn left at the lamp, turn north at the couch.