Uh-oh! There’s a scary-looking T-Rex in town, and he’s hungry! Hurry up and feed him the juicy steaks that he’s craving – or risk getting chomped! Play this Hungry T-Rex game with your little one to work on counting and number recognition.
The aim of the game is to roll the die (or dice), and feed the T-Rex the steak with the corresponding number. If your little one is just learning their numbers, use one die and help them count the dots. If your child already knows his numbers, use both dice and work on his addition skills. This game is extremely flexible and can be used to work on a variety of different skills. Here are some ideas:
- matching uppercase to lowercase letters
- shapes
- sight words
- beginning sounds
I’ve tried to make it open-ended for you, so you can easily customize this game to the needs of your child. Just print out and fill in the blank steaks with the numbers/letters/shapes that you want your child to work on.
Next, you will need to create your T-Rex. Now, I am no artist, but I did my best to draw something vaguely resembling a T-rex onto green construction paper. I cut out my dinosaur with an opening in the mouth. Then I added white teeth and a red tongue, using tape to attach them to the back side of the T-Rex.
But you don’t need to do all that work! Go ahead and draw your own, if your heart desires. Or – just use my printout and go from there.
Next, you will need to attach your T-Rex to a container to hold him upright and to catch all the juicy steaks he’s about to gobble down. I used a round plastic tub. You can use a box or can – whatever you have lying around.
Grab some dice, grab an eager kid – and that’s it! Not only did my children get to work on their math skills, but they really got into the dramatic play of pretending to be scared, then scrambling to find the right steak before the T-Rex grew impatient and chomped them.
Have fun!