- Infant
Dinosaur Egg Ramp Roll
Learning Areas:
- Engineering
- Movement
Overview
What is this activity?
ECSEL Standards
What skills are being enhanced? What knowledge is gained?
Materials
What do you need to prepare for this activity?
Instructions
Step by step guide
ECSEL Prompts
What questions can you ask to promote ECSEL thinking and discussions?
Extended Learning
How can you extend children’s thinking?
Overview
Roll the dinosaur eggs down the ramp to get them safely back into their nest!
ECSEL Standards & Learning Goals
What skills are being enhanced & what knowledge is being gained through this activity?
Emotional Identification
Children will begin to be able to recognize and identify the four basic emotions (happy, sad, angry, and scared) as they arise within the context of this activity, with support and guidance from teachers.
Emotional Understanding
Children will begin to be able to understand that we all experience different emotions.
Empathy & Prosocial Skills
Children will be able to practice taking turns, sharing space with others, and sharing materials with teacher support and guidance.
Cause & Effect
Children will begin to be able to connect their feelings to simple causes related to this activity through modeling and guidance from teachers.
Problem Solving
Children will be able to practice using problem-solving skills and critical thinking to find ways to get the dinosaur eggs into their nest.
CASEL Standards
Self-Awareness, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, Responsible Decision-Making
Materials
- Different colored plastic eggs
- A wooden or foam ramp
- 2 large baskets
Instructions:
- To prepare for this activity:
- Clear a space on the floor to set up the ramp and make sure it is secure.
- Set up one basket at the end of the ramp, and fill the other basket with the plastic eggs and place it near the top of the ramp (on the floor is fine).
- Invite children over to the activity area and guide them to first explore the materials on their own, either sitting on the floor, sitting with a teacher, or standing by the ramp with teacher support.
- Model picking up a dinosaur egg and rolling it down the ramp into the basket, then prompt children to try and do the same.
- Verbalize your observations about their actions and emotions that you notice arising, calling attention to the different sensory experiences. For example:
- “I see you picked up the green dinosaur egg! Your friend is holding a purple egg — these are two different colors.”
- “ I can see you smiling and laughing! It’s so exciting when the egg rolls all the way down the ramp.”
- “The egg made a funny, bumpy noise as it rolled down the ramp!”
- As children play and explore, encourage taking turns with the ramp and sharing the materials. Ask questions to prompt further exploration and critical thinking, and validate any problem-solving efforts you observe happening throughout the activity, such as attempting to open the eggs or rolling the eggs down the ramp in different ways.
ECSEL Prompts
ECSEL Prompts are helpful questions & guiding statements you can use to provoke children’s thinking about emotions. These prompts are related to this specific activity.
I can see a big smile on your face, and you’re clapping your hands! When we feel happy, we may smile, laugh, and clap. I smile and laugh when I feel happy, too.
Some friends are smiling and like the noise the egg makes rolling down the ramp, but other friends are frowning and covering their ears. We all have different feelings!
I heard you yell and I can see that you are frowning. Are you feeling angry because the egg won’t roll into the basket? Let’s see if we can try a different way together!
Your friend is frowning and looks so sad because they do not have an egg. Can you share one of your eggs with your friend to help them feel better?
What will happen if we drop the egg from the top of the ramp instead of rolling it? What do you think will happen if we roll two eggs at once? Let’s try and find out!
Extended Learning
Use these questions & ideas to extend children’s learning!
Extend this activity to include more teamwork and sharing by supporting children in partnering up! Have one child roll the egg down the ramp, and the other child try to catch the egg at the end of the ramp (either with their hands, in the basket, or by sitting at the end of the ramp and letting the egg roll over to them).
Add an additional movement element for older infants by expanding the ramp set up to include other age-appropriate foam blocks. Guide children to walk or crawl up the blocks to the ramp and roll the egg down into the basket.
Include a mathematical element with counting! After each child rolls their egg into the basket, count the total out loud as you hand each of them an egg back:
- “All of the dinosaur eggs are safely in the basket! Let’s see how many we have. We can count as I hand them back to you! Ready? 1…2…3…”