The Traveling Spark Station-Children learn about Dragons

 

I am fascinated with dragons and fairies. From my earliest days I have studied them and learned about the origin of the tales and legends about them. So I decided to introduce Jack and Maggie to both of them. First was dragons and this weekend we will be learning about fairies because we will be in Yellowstone Park, a fabulous place for building a fairy house.

Let me show you what we learned about dragons and then you enjoy your own dragon experience!

I found so many wonderful dragon projects for kids on line. I am giving you the websites for a lot of them today. However, they were more labor and material intensive than I wanted so here is how I came up with the craft we did. In fact, this is what I do a lot of times because I believe in keeping things simple and not spending lots of money. : )

I stood in my very messy backroom where I have all the paper, glue, ribbon, wiggly eyes and other important stuff and I thought about dragons. “Hmmmm, what do I have in here that we could use to make our own dragon?” There was a pile of paper plates cut in half. “Yes, that would make a body. Of course we can use the wiggly eyes. Let’s see, construction paper and brads. Hmmmmm our body could move. Cool! Yellow feathers, they look just like fire. I think I am in business.”

I didn’t have a picture or any patterns and I didn’t make any patterns. It was all free hand because I am working with preschoolers and they are not too picky! If you had older children they would probably like some of the projects that I saw on line. However, if you put a pile of stuff in the middle of your table and said lets create dragons, I bet that would be even more fun! Kids of all ages, me included, love to create.

Here is what we did with what I found in my junk room.

We used cotton balls and painted the paper plate half and set it aside to dry. Because these are preschoolers I had all the parts cut out because scissors are for just cutting not cutting things out when you are three. :  )  While the kids painted their plates I read them two delightful and shivery dragon poems; The Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll and I’m Tired of Being a Dragon by Jack Prelutsky.

While the plates dried we read a few story books about Dragons. I have listed all the books below that I checked out of the library.

Make your own dragon craft step by step:

I had the pieces for a long neck, a head, wings, ears and a three jointed tail.

1. First we hooked the neck to the plate with a brad.

2. Then we hooked the head to the neck with another brad.

3. We added long eyelashes, an eye and ears which we glued in place.

4. Then we made a tail by brading the three parts together and attaching them to the plate with another brad.

5. We braded both wings to the body, one on each side, using the same brad. Now our dragon can fly.

6. But no dragon is complete without fire so we glued a feather to the mouth. Voila! A dragon.

(We adults had to  push the brads through the paper and the plate but the children loved spreading them apart and pressing them down.)

We watched the short movie The Reluctant Dragon by Walt Disney. It is from the 50’s and you can tell. It is a good animated story and Maggie who is 5 thought it was funny. It didn’t hold Jack or Mary’s attention. Other possible dragon movies for kids would be Pete’s Dragon and How to Train Your Dragon. I LOVED How to Train Your Dragon. It made me laugh!!!

I had copied a cute dragon coloring page from the web and we had a fun time coloring it. I have given you a couple of links below to find some dragon coloring pages that you can print off.

We ended our fun day by watching Custard the Dragon on Utube. It was fun but not as good as the book, The Tale of Custard the Dragon by Ogden Nash. See if you can find the book at the library.

Here is some information on crafts, food and other fun things that you might want to add to your Dragon Week. Have chillingly wonderful time learning all about dragons. Don’t forget to read some folk tales and legends in your family reading time. There is just so much you can learn about other people and different cultures by studying their dragons. You will find dragons in France, England, China, Japan. The Philippines, Scotland, Hungary, Vietnam and more places than I can list here and they are all different. So take some time to read with your family about scaly beasts, frightened princesses and heroic knights.

 

Dragon Coloring pages to print off:

• http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/dragons_theme.htm
• http://www.kids-fun-and-games.com/dragon-coloring-pages.html
• http://pages-coloring-for-kids.com/dragon_coloring_pages.html

Why not try your hand at writing some Dragon poems:

• http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/knight_themed_acrostic_printables.htm

• Dragon Crafts for kids:
  

  Chinese dragon puppet

• Chinese dragon puppet  http://bit.ly/meku01
• Dancing Dragon  http://bit.ly/llaIhM
• Dragons to make  http://bit.ly/felRrh
• Dragon hat  http://bit.ly/ldpZoX
• Hand print Dragon   http://bit.ly/mzyfPn

Dragon Food Ideas:

Bean Dip Dragon  http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Taco-Dip-Dragon

Cupcake Dragon  Your kids will love making these. I can think of many other ways to create a mouth and teeth! http://www.thecupcakeblog.com/strawberry-dragon-cupcake/

Dragon Books for Young Children: 

• The Tale of Custard the Dragon by Ogden Nash
• Hush, Little Dragon by Boni Ashburn and Kelly Murphy
• Good Night, Good Knight (Dutton Easy Reader) by Shelley Moore Thomas and Jennifer Plecas’
• Everyone Knows What a Dragon Looks Like (Aladdin Books) by Jay Williams and Mercer Mayer
• The End by David LaRochelle and Richard Egielski’s
• Dragon Pizzeria by Mary Morgan
• Dragon Dancing by Carole Lexa Schaefer
• Raising Dragons by Jerdine Nolen
• The Popcorn Dragon by Jane Thayer
• Dragon Is Coming! by Valeri Gorbachev
• The Knight and the Dragon (Paperstar Book) by Tomie DePaola
• A Lion in the Meadow by Margaret Mahy

Dragon Books for Older Children : 

• Behold the Dragons! by Gail Gibbons
• The Loathsome Dragon by David Wiesner
• Dragons by Lucille Recht Penner
• Saint George and the Dragon retold by Margaret Hodges
• The Runaway Dragon by Kate Coombs
• The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame
• The Last Dragon by Silvana de Mari
• Hannah’s Winter by Kierin Meehan
• Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville

Dragon Books for young adults:

• Eragon Series by Christopher Paolini
• The Enchanted Forest Chronicles: Dealing with Dragons / Searching for Dragons / Calling on Dragons / Talking to Dragons by Patricia Wrede
• The Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey

 

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