D is for Dinosaur

I was getting sick of underwater animals, so we took a break for letter D. As always with a new letter, we first completed a worksheet:

I'm actually really happy with doing these worksheets. My older son learned to write letters just out of curiosity, but my younger son seems to need a little more parental push. It's fun to sit down and work on these worksheets together. It's not like I just leave him with it--we talk about the letter and what it looks like, we draw it with our fingers, and often I hold his little hand in mine and we write some letters together; then he might try a few on his own. I don't know why I enjoy this time together as much as I do. It's just fun to see the glimmer of recognition come into his face...it makes me feel like we're getting somewhere :-)

Next, I drew a big letter D and gave my son dinosaur stickers. Of course, we talked about how "dinosaur" starts with the letter D, and the sound of it and all that too.

I thought he would just decorate the letter D and be done with it, but he surprised me by making up a big dinosaur story as he went along. The letter D became the land and the middle became the water. The dinosaurs grouped together in packs and either protected each other, or helped each other hunt for prey. Some of the dinosaurs jumped across the water to escape their predators, and some of them just liked to swim across. Mostly, I played the role of listener...a welcome change :-) We had a great time. It's amazing what a simple piece of paper and a few stickers can do!