Dinosaur Power - Money Activity for Preschool

Buy power-ups and become a mighty dinosaur!

Spark your child’s imagination with this fun dinosaur-themed activity! Using a limited amount of money, children will use addition and subtraction to decide which powers they’d like to buy to add to their dinosaur. Then, they’ll be rewarded by getting to reenact the characteristics that they purchased, transforming into the unique dinosaur that they created all by themselves!

📚 Books to explore: How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? by Jane Yolen, Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs by Mo Willems, and Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs! by Sandra Boynton.

🖌️ Be as creative as you’d like! Feel free to let your kiddo really get into the character by dressing up or even painting their faces!

📷 Document as you go. Grab your camera for the acting out portion of the activity for some guaranteed adorable moments!

Materials

For this activity you will need:

Printable dinosaur powers

Printable money

Scissors

Learning Outcomes

Domain

Cognition

Skills

Completing simple number operations

Indicators:

Adding and subtracting one from a set

Instructions

Step 1:

Print out the two printable sheets and cut the money out.

Step 2:

Show the dinosaur powers sheet to your child and explain the different options.

Step 3:

Have the child count the money that they have. Then, ask which one power they would like to purchase that they are able to afford.

Step 4:

After a power has been chosen, have the child purchase it from you by counting out the money and handing it to you.

Step 5:

Encourage the child to act out the new power that they just purchased.

Step 6:

Repeat steps 3-5 until the child cannot afford any more powers.

⬆️ For older kiddos: Have the child start with less money so they have to really think through which powers they would like. You can also have them purchase all of the powers at once instead of one by one for a harder math challenge.

⬇️ For younger kiddos: Help your child with the math portion of the activity and place more emphasis on the power selection and performance.