(ThyBlackMan.com) Middle school is one of the most fun and challenging periods of our school lives. Most students find it hard to focus and quickly lose interest in academics, finding them mundane. This has been a massive problem for teachers throughout the years. However, now, more and more schools are turning towards active learning. This method of learning employs fun and engaging activities for the middle schoolers to participate in. Such activities inspire a love for the topic in the hearts of students and help them retain information better! Moreover, they help build social skills and improve time-management skills in children.
Studying a topic like dinosaurs can be thoroughly enjoyable if done the right way. For example, students can be encouraged to play with a baby dinosaur puppet that resembles a real dinosaur. This way, students can learn more about the physical features of dinosaurs. To maximize knowledge retention, schools should integrate activities like this into their regular classes. If you’re looking for more activities to make learning fun, use our list of the best dinosaur activities to try out with middle school kids!
- Dinosaur Fact-file Presentations
A fun way to learn about dinosaurs is to get students to study them on their own and make a fun, fact-filled profile of their favorite dinosaur! After researching thoroughly, students must create and present the dinosaur they chose, highlighting important and interesting facts they found. Each student must select a new dinosaur that none of their peers chose. This way, all the information relayed from each presentation will be unique and non-repetitive to maximize learning.
- Dinosaur Role-play Activity
There is no better way to engage a group of rowdy middle-schoolers than by giving them an activity that requires both mental and physical engagement. A role-play session will allow students to act as their favorite dinosaur and share their knowledge of the dinosaur’s appearance and behavior. For this activity, students may either act as dinosaurs themselves or use a realistic baby dinosaur puppet for a more accurate recreation.
- Prehistoric CrossWord Puzzle
After teaching the students all about dinosaurs, give them a fun crossword puzzle with clues related to the concepts they have learned. Students will be required to guess the word by matching it to the hint given. For example, you may provide a dinosaur-related scientific term as one of the words. This activity is excellent for helping kids recall information because it requires them to link the given hints to what they learned in class.
- Dinosaur Book Show and Tell
Encourage your students to borrow a book from their school library about dinosaurs. Instruct them to read it at home and discuss what they learned from the book during class time. This activity promotes independent learning in children and helps them gain confidence in their newly acquired knowledge by sharing it with the class. Just make sure every child has access to a good dinosaur book before giving them this task!
- Recreate Dinosaur Fossils
Using only play dough and their crafty hands, middle school students can recreate dinosaur fossils. This is a fun activity to encourage a love for paleontology. Also, it requires no additional materials apart from playdough! If you want to avoid playdough, you can opt for materials such as plaster, but plaster is messier. If you use plaster, create fossil-shaped molds and ask your students to cast their plaster into them. The result will be a set of beautifully formed pretend fossils!
- Take Your Students to a Dinosaur Museum
Field trips are unarguably one of the very best ways to introduce students to a new topic. If there is a museum near your school that has a dinosaur exhibit display, you must arrange for a field trip! Trips encourage students to pay attention to the topic at hand. They are a wonderful way to learn about any topic, even dinosaurs.
- Use Baby Dinosaur Puppets to Introduce Students to The Exotic World of Dinosaurs!
The best way to teach middle school students about something is by making them interact with the topic itself. Our baby dinosaurs are so realistic, and you may mistake them for an actual dinosaur! These fantastic machines are interactive and behave just like a real dinosaur would.
Our dinosaur puppets can move and interact with their environment. These smart, unique devices come with a set of buttons that are used to control their actions. With the buttons at your disposal, all power to control the baby dinosaur puppet is in your hands!
These baby dinosaur puppets can move in many interesting ways, such as blinking their eyes and moving their jaws. Their mouths also open and close easily on demand. The baby puppet’s head is movable, too. Some dinosaur puppets come with wings. In such cases, the wings may be flapped, too! There is a great variety of adorable baby dinosaur puppets to choose from in the market.
However, if none of them appeal to you, feel free to order a custom-made design tailored to your exact choices. These baby dinosaur puppets can range anywhere from 2 to 7 feet in size. They also make realistic roaring sounds thanks to their built-in speakers!
Check out our range of baby dinosaur puppets and place your order today! The puppet comes with a 24-month warranty, too! Apart from being an excellent way to teach middle school students about dinosaurs, these baby puppets can be taken home to play with. Your new baby dinosaur puppet will be a lifetime companion if treated with care. With their ability to move, anything is possible! And, they look real enough to be treated like a little pet in your home!
Staff Writer; Larry Shaw