Ultimate Dinosaur, written by Douglas Palmer, DK Publishing, 2013 - A big book packed full of lots of dinosaur facts.

The Ultimate Dino-Pedia (National Geographic Kids), by “Dino” Don Lessem and illustrated by Franco Tempesta, National Geographic, 2010—This is a fantastic (and large) book with great illustrations of many plant and meat eaters. We found it very useful to refer to this book when filling out my Dinosaur Timeline Worksheet (Learning Activity Below).

What Are Dinosaurs?, by Bobbie Kalman, Crabtree Publishing Company, 2011—This is the perfect book for new readers as the text is large and it offers just basic dino information.

What Did Dinosaurs Eat? And Other Things You Want to Know About Dinosaurs, written by Elizabeth MacLeod and illustrated by Gordon Sauvé, kids Can Press, 2001—This book answers 14 questions that kids may have about dinosaurs and offers basic information making it not as daunting as some more scientific dinosaur books out there.

How to encourage your child to write:

Choose the level of your child:
Toddler/Preschool – discuss the answer(s) out loud first and have your child draw a picture of the answer

Preschool/Kindergarten – discuss the answer(s) out loud first and write the answer down for him/her leaving one word for him/her to write out himself/herself with your help. You could also encourage him/her to draw a picture as well.

Early Grade School – have your child either write out the answer himself/herself (encourage phonetic spelling) without your help, or offer to help with spelling each word out loud one word at a time.

Grade School – have your child write a sentence or two on his/her own and then read over and discuss the response. (You decide whether to correct the spelling or not)

Older Child – have your child write a longer response (paragraph).

As A Challenge – instead of a question ask your older child to write a story or poem about dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs:

Reading and Writing

An image from the Children's picture book I am working on!

Try some of these nonfiction/learning titles if you can find them:

There are always plenty of dinosaur books for kids. Check your bookshelves to see what you have on hand or go to the library together to see what you can find.

JOURNALING QUESTION PROMPT:

Write out one or more of the following questions in your Family Theme Day Scrapbook or on a piece of paper to glue in your scrapbook:

How many different dinosaurs can you name? What is your favourite dinosaur? Draw a picture of your favourite dinosaur. If you discovered a dinosaur what would you name it? What would this new dinosaur look like?

Don’t Know Much About: Dinosaurs, by Kenneth C. Davis and illustrated by Pedro Martin, HarperCollins Publishers, 2004—This one offers a decent amount of information and uses cartoon illustrations of dinosaurs throughout.

Dinosaur Discovery: Everything You Need to be a Paleontologist, by Chris McGowan and illustrated by Erica Lyn Schmidt, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2011—this is a neat book and would be perfect if you have older kids who are really scientific and interested in experiments as it offers some great activities that are more academic than what I offer on this Theme Day page.

Dinosaurs Rule, by matthew Rake and illustrated by Peter Minister, Lerner Publishing 2015 - This 31 page book offers a lot of information about dinosaurs.

From the Dinosaurs of the Past to the Birds of the Present, by Marianne Johnston, PowerKids Press, 2000—This book offers fairly easy text and basic information about dinosaurs.

Here are some picture book about Dinosaurs:

Crunch Munch Dinosaur Lunch, by Paul Bright and illustrated by Michael Terry, Good Books, 20120—This is a sweet story of Teri the tiny T-Rex who adores her BIG brother Ty a little too much as he finds her very annoying. Lovely story of siblings!

Dinosaur Pet, Children's lyrics by Marc Sedaka, inspired by "Calendar Girl" by Neil Sedaka & Howard Green field, and illustrated by Tim Bowers, -This brightly illustrated book is a song about a growing dinosaur throughout the calendar year. Try to find the book with the CD in it to listen to the song, but it's still fun on it's own.

D is for Dinosaur: A Prehistoric Alphabet, by Todd Chapman and Lita Judge and illustrated by Lita Judge, Sleeping Bear Press, 2007—Each letter of the alphabet has it’s own dino related rhyme and each page has facts that would appeal to older kids beside the illustrations.

Dinosaurs Galore!, by Giles Andreae and illustrated by David Wojtowycz, Tiger Tales, 2004—This brightly illustrated book offers fun rhymes introducing different types of dinosaurs.

Dinosaur Vs. Bedtime, by Bob Shea, Hyperion Books for Children, 2008 - There are a few in this series, but I like this bedtime book the best; very simple in illustration and style but a hit with little ones.

Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs, by Ian Whybrow and illustrated by Adrian Reynolds, Puffin Books, 2003—Harry has a bucket of toy dinosaurs that are alive for him! This is a cute series of books.

Drumheller Dinosaur Dance, writen by Robert Heidbrded and illustrated by Bill Slavin and Esperança Melo, Kidscan Press, 2004 - I had to include this rhythmically fun book because it takes place in one of our most favourite places in Alberta, Canada: Drumheller.

How do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food?, by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague, The Blue Sky Press, 2005—There are many books in this series including How do Dinosuars say Goodnight , How do Dinosaurs say Happy Birthdayand How do Dinosaurs Play All Day, but this one looks at table manners with great humour.

How the Dinosaur Got to the Museum, by Jessie Hartland, Blue Apple Books, 2011— This is a fun picture book that adapts the “House that Jack Built” idea of repeating words to teach readers about how dinosaurs get to museums via paleontologist, dinosaur hunter, excavator, mover, preparators, curator...

Katie and the Dinosaurs, by James Mayhew, Orchard Books, 2004—Katie and her grandmother visit the Natural museum when she gets lost and discovers a room where the dinosaurs are alive. She journeys through the land of the dinosaurs to help a little Hadrosaurus find his parents . This is another book in Mayhew’s Katie series where the little girl ventures inside different paintings in museums.

The Magic School Bus In the Time of the Dinosaurs, by Joanna Cole and illustrated by Bruce Degen, scholastic Inc., 1994—Ms. Frizzle takes her calss on an amazing journey back in time where they learn about dinosaurs.

Stomp, Dinosaur, Stomp!, by Margaret Mayo and illustrated by Alex Ayliffe, Walker & Company, 2010—Using cut-paper collage for illustrations this bright and fun book uses actions to describe each dinosaur and might encourage your preschooler to stomp, stomp, stomp around your house as well!