CLEVELAND — In my house, it’s hard to walk five feet without stepping on a doll or getting covered in glitter. But my girls also love dinosaurs, reptiles and digging in dirt for worms.
“What’s your favorite dinosaur?” my oldest asked my middle child.
“Ummm the one with the long neck.”
“Do you mean a Brontosaurus?” I asked her.
She looked at me blankly.
In a time when I’m looking for activities where they learn something along the way, I took advantage of the conversation and the fact that I stored away some kids molding clay.
“Do you want to make your favorite dinosaurs?”
I got an emphatic “yes!” and pulled the molding clay out of the closet. (This can also work for Play-Doh)
We looked up descriptions of their two favorite dinosaurs so we could get a good description of their characteristics, what they looked like and other little facts.
In the process, my oldest learned that her favorite, a pterodactyl is not actually a dinosaur. It’s a species called Pterosaur, which are flying reptiles. She learned they were believed to have wings like a bat.
Ding! Educational.
Then it was time to play with clay for a while. The girls rolled out, smashed and mixed the clay. My 4-year-old made the long neck of the Brontosaurus. My 6-year-old made thre pterodactyls so they could fly in a flock.
I used the Crayola Model Magic, which “dries” overnight. It gets more like a dry spongy material, which is still flimsy. We had to discuss how, much like the dinosaurs, our clay dinos won’t last forever.
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