Dinosaurs - Lesson 6: The Dinosaur's Life Cycle
ACTIVITY: Shake and Spill

Materials

• Five two-color counters that represent dinosaur eggs; one color is female, the other color is male
  
• Container to represent the dinosaur nest
  
• Paper and pencil to record the results (this is optional, if students have been introduced to writing number sentences)
  

Part One

1. Students put three, four or five two-color counters in the container representing the dinosaur nest.
2. They cover the container with one hand and shake it.
3. They spill the counters on the desk and count how many of one color and how many of the other.
4. They say which set (counters of one color) has more.
5. They say the number sentence the counters represent, e.g., two plus one equals three; three plus one equals four; two plus three equals five, etc., depending on the number of counters they put into the container.

Part Two

1. Students put three, four or five two-color counters in the container.
2. They cover the container with one hand and shake it.
3. They spill the counters on the desk and count how many of one color and how many of the other.
4. The students compare the two sets to say which set (counters of one color) has more.
5. For example, the students put four counters in the container. When they spill the counters there are three yellow and one red. One student says that set yellow has two more than set red, because set yellow has two not matched.