Use dino toys to make fun process art. Use different size dinos, different types, and even different body parts. Let the dinosaurs be your paintbrush.

You can of course use other types of animals. And gladly take the opportunity to scavenge for prints left in the nature around.

The idea has come from the LittleBinsForLittleHands blog

Instructions for adults:

• Print out the sudoku boards and laminate them if you wish.
• Cut the papers in half so that each board is on its own A5 size paper.
• There are three levels of difficulty in the main house sudoku: one star, two stars and three stars.
• Watch the Häärämö YouTube channel to see how handy it is to guide your child to solve sudoku puzzles.

Guide for your child:

• Count how many squares of each colour are on your game board. You need a total of four of each of the four colours.
• For example, if you have three blue squares on your board, how many more do you need to make four blue squares in total? So take one blue Duplo piece.
• Place the Duplo pieces you have taken above the board in the colour order you have chosen, so that one colour is always at the bottom (see picture above). For each Sudoku, you will need 1 to 3 of each colour.

Solve the sudoku:

• Find the row with only one colour missing.
• When you can no longer find rows with only one colour missing, look at the large square (2 x 2 square). Which colour is missing? In addition to the previous solution strategies, take aside the two colours that are missing from the row or the large square. Decide from the horizontal and vertical lines where the colours belong.
• Only put a colour in place if you are sure that it belongs there. If you think a colour can be placed in two different squares on the same row, don’t place it yet.

Sudoku boards: Lego-sudoku Eng (PDF, 117 kB)

Supplies Needed 

• Magnet wand 
• Various metal items like ball bearings, springs & screws 
• Various non-metal items like marbles 
• Paper 
• Plastic tray or box (I used an old 9″ x 13″ food container) 
• Tempera paint. 
• Cups or palette to dip the metal pieces in 
• Spoons to get the painted covered pieces into the tray. 

Magnet Painting How-To 

To begin painting, pour your paint into something deep enough to drop your metal pieces into.  An egg carton works well. Then cut your paper to fit your tray and place a piece inside. Now it’s time to paint! Dip a metal piece in paint and drop it into the tray. Then take the magnet wand and move it around under the plastic tray as this keeps the metal pieces rolling smoothly. 

Time for Experimentation 

One of the best parts of this project is that kids can learn a little science while painting. You can use all metal pieces, or you can throw in some things that the magnet can’t move like glass marbles. Even different metal pieces move differently. 

The idea is taken from the blog LeftBrainCraftBrain

A treasure hunt where you hunt with your senses. You smell things, touch and experience your surrounding.

So if you feel like sending the children on a different hunt try Treasure hunt for the five senses (PDF, 98 kB)

Games to train number, addition and number buddies.

Print two sets per deck of the cards. Cut them out before you can play. For higher durability, please laminate

• Choose four cards to be in front of the players
• The students stand or sit opposite each other. They put their hands in front of them on the table.
• It is also possible to play the game lying on their stomachs with the cards lying slightly in front of the players, who in this way have to lift their upper body and arms to reach the cards.

For variants and ready sets with cards: Math-duel (PDF, 96kB)