And we're back...for now...with Dinosaurs

My son recently used a gift certificate from his birthday to buy a set of dinosaurs and we were delighted that his selection actually printed the names of the dinosaurs on their bottoms.  This led to me starting a very loose theme on dinosaurs.  With my younger son becoming mobile and very curious about everything, AND refusing to take a morning nap in his crib, it has been increasingly difficult to actually conduct any messy or involved projects with my preschooler without interruption.  (Don't get me started on the great finger painting incident which required a whole wardrobe change and a blue/green Technicolor mouth).  Even reading a whole book is difficult, which is frustrating for both of us.  I know this phase will pass soon, when mobility is less of a novelty, and when the little one is ready for a little more than eating art mediums and chewing on the Brachiosaurus' tail.  In the meantime, we try to play with the dinosaurs a lot (while my 10 month old is "pretending" to be a carnivore "eating" the herbivores) while I embed facts about them.  We also read books when we can (even if by the page as we did with "An Alphabet of Dinosaurs"), and try to utilize some weekend time to have one-on-one big kid projects.  Also, we have started allowing a little TV time on a regular basis, so PBS's "Dinosaur Train" is appropriate and fits the theme.  Although now I have to explain that Dinosaurs do not really travel by train, nor do Tyrannosaurus Rex babies EVER end up in a Pteranodon nest and make friends with them.

The assessment materials for this theme are available here.  I do hope that someday I will get some long stretches of uninterrupted time to transcribe and code all the assessments, but at least for now, I have them recorded.