Dino Math for Boys (and Girls) Who Love Dinosaurs

If you've read this blog for any amount of time then you know that my 5 year-old LOVES dinosaurs. In fact, I'm fairly positive that on some days he actually believes that he is a dinosaur.

We're an eclectic bunch.

Anyway, Eli really struggles with math. He has some learning issues and has yet to master recognizing his numbers 1 - 10. If he paces himself and doesn't get too worked up, he can count objects or dice, but has great difficulty actually recognizing numbers.

For example, in his mind, a 2 is a 5. A 4 is an H, a 5 is an S, 7 is an L, and 6 and are d's, b's, and p's. So, we are really, really focusing on recognizing numbers right now.

Here are the some of the ways we're trying to make learning fun for a little boy who is crazy about dinosaurs...

The Dinosaur Hunter Game

Print off numbers HERE. We used pieces (dinosaur footprints and paleontologists - which we call "dinosaur hunters") from an old Monopoly Jr. Diggin' for Dino's game that we found at a garage sale a few summer ago.

Dinosaurs are on the loose! It's up to Eli, the Brave and Noble Dinosaur Hunter to track down all the dinosaurs and save the city....

Eli rolls the dice or draws a card from a stack of flashcards and has to either count the number on the dice or recognize the number on the card. He moves his dinosaur hunter that many spaces (footprints). Each time he gets to "jump" over a dinosaur, it gets captured and he collects it. The goal is for the dinosaur hunter to track down all the footprints and get all the dinosaurs - just in the nick of time, of course.

It's a one man game and allows Eli to work on counting and number recognition.

Terry the Hungry Triceratops

Okay, believe it or not, this IS a Triceratops. I just happened to have some gorgeous purple felt that I wanted to use... but I guess I should've stuck with greens and browns. Anyway, you can find a triceratops template and leafs HERE. We used an old pasta box and covered it with felt and then made some impromptu arms to go with it.

Grrrrrrowl! Can you hear that? Terry the Triceratops is hungry. Can you help him find how many leaves he needs to eat until his tummy stops growling?

Basically, Eli uses his dice or his flashcards to determine how many leaves he gets to feed Terry the Triceratops. It works on his counting and number recognition skills and he has a blast pulling the leaves off the tree and feeding them to the dinosaur.

Oh, the tree is made out of a cereal box and we used velcro circles to attach the leaves to the tree limbs. We usually tack the tree to the wall when we play this game.

Stegosaurus Marble Fun

We found these stegosaurus bath thingies at the Dollar Tree a few weeks ago. They come 6 to pack for 99 cents. They're those things that you put in the bottom of the tub so you won't slip. Anyway, when you turn them over, they have about 20 little suction cups that are perfect for holding marbles. I saw a similar version on a blog using a teddy bear, but can't remember which one.

Eli rolls his dice or picks from his flashcards to get the amount of marbles that he has to transfer to the Stegosaurus. He works on his fine motor skills by picking up the marbles with a tong. It's a really good game for working on math, coordination, and concentration.

Dinosaur Number Flashcards

These are some of the flashcards that we use. You can find them at Kiddsoup, but it's subscription only, so I can't provide the exact link. I will say, though, that if you have preschoolers or kids in early elementary grades, I would highly recommend this site. It's only about $25 a year - definitely worth it!

Clothespin Stegosaurus

We originally did this as an easy craft idea found at No Time for Flash Cards, but quickly realized that we could turn it into a math game.

Poor Sam the Stegosaurus! He just woke up and has no idea what to wear. Should he wear 5 plates today? 8? 13? Will you help Sam put on his dinosaur armor today?

Eli rolls the dice (or picks a flashcard) and determines how many plates Sam will be wearing that day.

Good for counting and number recognition skills - and the clothespins are great for coordination and fine motor skills. And don't forget about the actual craft. Perfect for those kids with sensory issues who can't stand to get their hands messy. Well, okay, not really perfect, but gives them opportunities to get messy - which Eli needs.

Counting the Dinosaur Eggs

Very simple game that works on counting, number recognition, and fine motor skills. Pretty much self-explanatory. Count the eggs and put a clothespin on the number that correlates with the eggs. Templates can be found HERE.

Dinosaur Puzzle Math

I snagged this idea from Lakeshore Learning. Couldn't justify paying $15 for 3 puzzles when knew I could make my own. We have a ton of Dinosaur magazines that we bought at a garage sale last summer and we've been cutting them up, numbering them at the bottom, and laminating them. Eli has to be able to recognize his numbers in order to put together the puzzle.

The above puzzle is only numbered to 6, but you can number them anyway. For ex: if you're working on recognizing numbers 30 - 39, you could just start with that.

Dinosaur Bingo

Using the dinosaur footprints from the Monopoly Jr game, we printed off these bingo cards at Kidssoup.

Dinosaur Counting Cards

The picture explains it all. We just made up a grid showing 1 - 6 (7 - 12) are on the back side and Eli has to put the correct amount of dinosaur footprints on each spot. Sounds easy, but counting (specifically, not rushing to get it over with and therefore getting frustrated) is hard for Eli, so we practice with this a lot.

Eli's Favorite Game: Swedish Fish Dinosaurs

If you have a dinosaur lover, run to Walmart ASAP and buy these Easter dinosaur eggs for your little one. They're about $4.88 for 15 and you can throw the candy away that's inside (or save it for your secret Momma stash, like I did.)

We put little round stickers on each dinosaur head and numbered them 1 -10. Three of the eggs have one Swedish Fish gummy inside. We shuffle the cards, face them down and Eli turns over one card at a time. He has to recognize the number and then find the corresponding egg. Once he finds it, he opens it to see if there's a Swedish Fish in it.

There's no winning or losing. We just do it over and over to work on number recognition. Seriously, people, he has a MAJOR hard time with numbers. Either that, or he's playing me because he knows this is the only way I'll let him eat Swedish Fish! ha!

Hope some of these games will inspire lots of math learning for your little dinosaur lover. It certainly works for us!