Explore Color Words with a Free Printable Dinosaur Emergent Reader

Read below about how to use a dinosaur emergent reader to teach kids color names and color words.

Chances are, if you’re an early childhood educator (or a parent . . . or both!) you’ve been around kids who get really into dinosaurs.

Not every kid gets obsessed with dinosaurs, but there are definitely some who just can’t get enough of them. My son skipped over this phase, more interested in all things trains when he was younger (as opposed to his mama, who was firmly entrenched in dinos as a kid).

I distinctly remember more than one student who wanted to be a paleontologist or who told me dinosaur facts I’d never heard of.

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On a side note, did you know that these childhood interests can be beneficial for kids’ brains?

If your students are incredibly interested in dinosaurs, planning a dinosaur theme might very well be in order. Be sure to add a colorful dinosaur emergent reader into those lesson plans.

What’s the Big Deal about Making Your Own Emergent Readers?

If you’re a regular reader of Fun-A-Day, you know how much I love making books with the kids.

Be they printable easy readers, more involved art-and-text books, or class books, I find them to be incredibly meaningful for the kids. Plus, they’re usually just plain fun to make.

Here’s a list of what homemade emergent readers can teach kids. This list is by no means exhaustive:

Left to right progression when reading
Punctuation
Sight words
Letter names and sounds
Concept of a word
One-to-one correspondence (one word written is equal to one word spoken)
Print carries meaning

On top of literacy concepts, making books can also help children learn a variety of other early learning concepts. For example, this free printable dinosaur emergent reader delves into colors and color words.

Make a Dinosaur Emergent Reader with the Kids

Grab the free printable book at the bottom of this post. Print out the version that you’d prefer (there’s a color version, as well as a black-and white version).

To assemble the book, place the pages on a flat surface – printed side up. Pick up the pages. Take the right-hand side and fold it back to meet the left-hand side.

Press down along the fold on the right. Pull the individual folded pages out and arrange them in the order you’d like (just be sure the cover is on top). Staple everything along the left-hand side.

Here’s a video showing how I assemble these books:

Of course, if you’d prefer to cut each page in half and assemble it that way, you can.

Introduce the book to the kids

Once the book is put together, bring the children over. I prefer to do this one-on-one or with small groups.

Tell the kids that they’re going to make a book about dinosaurs of every color. Take a quick walk through the book, talking about the different colors and asking children to search out the color words on each page.

“This page is about a red dinosaur. Which of these words says ‘red’? Red starts with the sound /r/. What letter makes the /r/ sound? Let’s find the word ‘red’!”

Underline the color words with the appropriate crayon or marker. If you’re using the black-and-white book, have the kids color in the dinosaurs on each page.

The printable dinosaur book has eleven colors in it. That might be too much for some children. If that’s the case, you have a few choices:

Break up the bookmaking over the course of a couple of days
Choose only specific colors to be included in the book
Have the kids work together in pairs or small groups to complete one book

Ways to extend the bookmaking activity

Keep the books in the kids’ book boxes in the reading center. This way, they can be brought out to read and reread.

Add magnetic letters and magnetic trays to the reading center, along with the books. After they reread their dinosaur books, the kids can use the letters to make color words with the letters.

Have the children bring the books over to the math center. The kids can match various math manipulatives to each dinosaur based on color.

Send the readers home so the children can read the books to their families at home. Encourage the kids to find items around their homes that match each dinosaur color.

Preschool Dinosaur Theme Lesson Plans

Save time and get right to the playful learning with our printable lesson plan sets. Each set includes book suggestions, printable plans, over 30 learning activities (both whole group and centers) related to the theme, and corresponding printables.

Grab the dinosaur lesson plans at Preschool Teacher 101 and Teachers Pay Teachers

The Dinosaur Theme Lesson Plan Pack also includes:

1) Dinosaur Cards for sorting by color, making patterns and more
2) Counting Dinosaur Eggs Activity (1-10) in color and B/W
3) Count the Dinosaurs Emergent Reade (3 variations)
4) Dinosaur Roll and Graph Game in color and B/W
5) Dinosaur Skeleton Activity Mats
6) Dinosaur Word Cards
7) Beginning Sound Dinosaur Sort (D, I, N, O)
8) Dinosaur Number Cards (0-35) in color and B/W
9) Alphabet Train Dinosaur Matching Upper and Lowercase Letters
10) Rhyming Dinosaur Eggs

Download Your Free Printable Dinosaur Emergent Reader

The dinosaur emergent reader is available to members of Fun-A-Day’s email community. Click on the button below to join Fun-A-Day’s free email community for even more early childhood education resources (and get the dinosaur reader as a freebie).

More Dinosaur Theme Activities for Kids

Be sure to check out more great dinosaur activities by clicking on the links below the photo collage. You could have a lot of your dinosaur theme planned out with all of these ideas!