Last spring, we read a fun book called I’m a Dirty Dinosaur, in which the illustrations were created with actual mud. Of course, we had to make our own mud paintings! The same author has another book, I’m a Hungry Dinosaur, in which the illustrations were created with cocoa powder, chocolate, and sprinkles, so of course we needed to give a try to painting with chocolate ourselves.I’m a Hungry Dinosaur is simply delightful, just as it’s predecessor. In this book, the dinosaur is eager to eat a chocolate cake so he mixes it, bakes it, and decorates it. As mentioned, the three dimensional aspect to the illustrations make it fun, and the playful rhyme make the book a fun read aloud.
After we read, we grabbed markers and drew our own pictures. I drew a picture of a girl (I told Strawberry it was her) eating a cake. Strawberry made a more abstract marker drawing. The fun part came when we brought out the chocolate!
By pressing the cocoa on the paper, it left a shadow. But putting the wet chocolate on the page, it made a much darker impression.
The best part was licking fingers at the end!
Additional extension activities for this book include some of the following.
- Bake our own cake. Help the kids measure and follow directions.
- Practice fractions with a cake. Is half the cake more or less than a third of the cake?
- Discuss sequencing when it comes to baking a cake. Why couldn’t the dinosaur frost the cake before baking it? Using images of the various stages of preparing the food, put the dino’s process in order again.
I loved revisiting our little dino friend. I hope the author has some more great ideas! I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next! Flower garden? Swimming (watercolors)? I hope there will be more!
Note that I am an Usborne Books and More Personal Consultant. I’d love it if you consider buying these via my personal consultant page. Let me know if you have questions about other books that would go well with these. I love books (Usborne or not!)
This post is a part of the Homeschool Blogging Network’s series, 10 Days of Tips for Homeschooling Moms.
This week, I’m going to share 10 days of Picture Book Preschool Lessons.
Click over to the landing page to see the other posts I will be sharing. You can also see what tips the other homeschooling bloggers are sharing on their blogs.
[…] I’m a Dirty Dinosaur! and I’m a Hungry Dinosaur! see my posts on painting with mud and painting with chocolate! Both of these books come with extra durable pages that do not easily rip. Have a dance party or […]