Fingerpaint & Superheroes: Volcanoes and Dinosaurs

3.24.2011

Volcanoes and Dinosaurs

I've posted before about Everett's love of dinosaurs. We have collected a number of books- at least 8- from his birth to now and check others out at the library constantly. One of his on-going fantasy sagas includes his two large plastic dinosaurs, Peggy Sue the Stegosaurus and Grumpy the Triceratops. They accompany us to the park, in the bathtub, to the dinner table, or to read books during quiet time. We also have a pretty cute felt story board with dinosaurs and landscape pieces that he plays with on occasion.

Inspired by one of our new favorite dinosaur books, Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones, we created a big volcano with one of Everett's favorite friends, Jessup. The boys helped me mix up the salt dough in a big bowl on the floor then we brought it up to the table and mounded it up over a small soda bottle to form our volcano.
I pulled out our small plastic dinosaurs and animals for the boys to squish into the newly formed island before exploding hot pink lava out of it's volcanic top.

It's certainly not an original idea (although Everett and I hadn't done it before) but there's a reason this activity is done over and over again. There is so much value in the experience. The boys learned a little bit of chemistry through the dough mixing and lava making. They experienced textural changes through out the whole process- the powdery flour turned to sticky dough, the lumpy mounds of "land" turned squishy and pock-marked by dinosaur feet and "lava." And for Everett, the connections that create reading comprehension from story book to hands-on activity and back to story book when we re-read Skippyjon at quiet time.

Most of all, it was so much fun! Our lava really shot out of the top a few times and the boys had a great time trampling the volcano island with the animals and dinosaurs. I couldn't help but hear the tiny chihuahuas of Skippyjon Jones singing,

Itchee Gitchee Gumba!
Dinos do the rumba
With jumbo jaws
And giant claws,
WIth horns and beaks,
And scaly peaks.
Itchee Gitchee Gumba!
Chimichangos do the rumba
With great big hearts
And tiny parts,
With knobby knees
And lots of fleas.
Itchee Gitchee Gumba!