Dinosaurs are popular with toddlers and preschoolers at any time of year. Even though seasonal and holiday activities are great for young children, it’s nice to focus on an any-season theme like dinosaurs every now and then. So today, I have a free dinosaur do-a-dot printable for you! It’s even an instant download!
Montessori-Inspired Printables at Living Montessori Now
My daughter, Christina (a former Montessori child), and I are partnering to bring you a series of Montessori-inspired printables. The printables are typically themed and use a number of Montessori principles (although you don’t need to be a Montessori teacher or homeschooler to use them):
- They use isolation of quality.
- They use photographs or realistic images to emphasize reality. While there obviously aren’t any photographs of real dinosaurs, I chose images that look realistic from what we know about dinosaurs. Whenever I can, I’ll tell you the name of the object or animal featured. If you look at the credits pages, you’ll notice the dinosaur is a Diplodocus. I included the pronunciation for adults who are unsure how to pronounce dinosaur names.
- They typically use traditional Montessori colors such as red for consonants and blue for vowels.
- They use lowercase letters, which are what we introduce letter sounds with in Montessori education. (Children tend to pick up the uppercase letters without being introduced if they’re introduced to the lowercase letter sounds.)
- They often feature themed printable versions of Montessori materials.
Free Dinosaur (Diplodocus) Do-a-Dot Printable for the Letter D
To download the dinosaur do-a-dot printable, click here and then click on the file image in the upper right corner of the PDF to save to your computer (just choose where you want it saved).
Montessori-Inspired Activities Using the Dinosaur Do-a-Dot Printable
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links (at no cost to you).
Dinosaur Do-a-Dot Letter D Tray with Stickers
I used a Multicraft tray with ¾” sticker dots. For interest and to emphasize the name of the dinosaur (Diplodocus), I added a Diplodocus from the Safari Ltd. Dinos TOOB.
You could add a tracing activity to the printable. If you laminate your printable, you can use an erasable crayon like the Melissa & Doug Learning Mat Crayons or Crayola Erasable Crayons. For a 2-year-old or other young preschooler who’s not ready to write letters, you can just leave off the crayons.
Dinosaur Letter D Do-a-Dot Tray with Stickers
Even princesses can love dinosaurs! Zoey often says she’s a princess when she has a pretty dress on. And she LOVES dinosaurs! She had a lot of fun placing the sticker dots on her “d is for dinosaur” page. Then she spontaneously starting counting the dots.
(Note: In case you’re wondering, Zoey’s outfit is from Gymboree!)
If you want to know how to introduce the letter sound for d, check out my post on how to teach letter sounds using Montessori principles.
More Dinosaur Posts
Free Dinosaur Printables and Montessori-Inspired Dinosaur Language Activities
Montessori-Inspired Dinosaur Unit
Montessori-Inspired Dinosaur Fun with Printables, Water Beads, and Glass Gems
Montessori-Inspired Dinosaur Activities Using Dinosaur Replicas
Make Fossils from Montessori at Home!
Free Dinosaur Printables and Montessori-Inspired Dinosaur Math Activities
Dinosaur Ice Melt Science Experiment for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Montessori-Inspired Packs – Subscriber Freebies
Don’t miss our themed monthly packs! You’ll get the link and password for the Living Montessori Now subscriber library with the current pack and all the past monthly packs if you subscribe to the Living Montessori Now weekly newsletter!
Free Do-a-Dot Printables and Ideas for Using Them
I love the versatility of do-a-dot printables! If you’re doing a month-long theme, you could easily change out the type of do-a-dot activity weekly to add interest. Here are four ideas of hands-on activities for any of our do-a-dot printables from my frog do-a-dot printable post (see post for details and materials used).
Just click on an image to go to the post with the related free printable!
Note: I’ve arranged the following gallery in alphabetical order, although some posts have two do-a-dot printables (and two different letters). Also, I don’t introduce letters in alphabetical order. You can find out the order in which I introduce letter sounds here. I deviate from that order for our unit studies, though, and focus on a letter that’s simply related to our unit. That’s in addition to our other letter work.
You can see all our free do-a-dot printables with the latest at the top here.
Learn more about my eBook Montessori at Home or School: How to. Teach Grace and Courtesy!
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Andreea says
Inspirational! thanks for sharing these.