How Do Dinosaurs Play with Their Friends?

How Do Dinosaurs...?

by Jane Yolen, Mark Teague (Illustrator)

The bestselling, award-winning team of Yolen and Teague present their fourth original dinosaur board book, a fun guide to friendship and playing nicely with others. What if a dinosaur's friends come to play?Does he mope, does he pout if he can't get his way?Does he hide all his dump trucks, refusing to share?Does he throw his friends' coloring books up in the air?Time and time again, children are told to "play nice." This brilliantly illustrated board book is packed with rhymes that will teach children how. Mark Teague's laugh-aloud illustrations, along with Jane Yolen's playful text, will show children that "playing nice" can be easy and fun. Perfect for parents to read aloud with their children, this book is as humorous as it is instructive.

Genres: Picture Books, Dinosaurs, Childrens, Friendship, Fiction, Animals, Kids

6 pages, Board Book

First published September 1, 2006

About the author

Jane Yolen is a novelist, poet, fantasist, journalist, songwriter, storyteller, folklorist, and children’s book author who has written more than three hundred books. Her accolades include the Caldecott Medal, two Nebula Awards, the World Fantasy Award, three Mythopoeic Awards, the Kerlan Award, two Christopher Awards, and six honorary doctorate degrees from colleges and universities in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Born and raised in New York City, the mother of three and the grandmother of six, Yolen lives in Massachusetts and St. Andrews, Scotland.

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great board book in the Jane Yolen 'dino' series; suspension of disbelief and you are there - all kind of dinos playing together and sharing toys. I find it fascinating how these creatures seem to resonate with children: there has to be a PhD thesis there if you 'dig' deep enough (sorry). Another book to place on my dino-shelf!

[Dream.M · Rating 3 out of 5]

کشف این سری کتابا توی نوار از شادترین اتفاقات زندگیمه

[Seon Kim]

My toddler students asked me to read this book during free time and I actually enjoyed it. The first half part of the books are in question forms so I asked those questions to the student. They said, "no." After I read, I told them these are the ways that how to play with our friends. I can do follow up activity where we have a discussion about strategies to play with friends or draw how they want to play with their friends.

[Mackenzie Ferguson · Rating 4 out of 5]

always knew dinosaurs were polite

[Wanda C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay this one was cute and had a good message. The message was dont be a little bitch and play friendly.

I support it.

[Kaitlyn (ktxx22) Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was super cute!! I thought it was really funny and I thoroughly enjoyed all the illustrations!

[Connor Ferguson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Baby still awake. Hopefully she will let her friends have tricycle rides

[Maria Shuffit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice little board book about playing nicely with others. After some examples of what not to do, there are several positive lines about how to play with friends.

One thing that stood out was the fact that there were many different dinosaurs featured in this book - and most of them were species I had never even heard of, not just your standard t-rex and stegosaurus and such. Each one was labeled, providing an extra opportunity for education.

[Kristie · Rating 5 out of 5]

All of the "how do dinosaur" books are great!!! My nephew loves them too.

[Isabella Agajanian · Rating 5 out of 5]

How Do Dinosaurs Play with Their Friends by Jane Yolen is about what a dinosaur shouldn’t do when playing with friends and then tells us, the audience, what they should do when friends are over at their house or are playing with them in the park. This directly correlates to the theme of friendship and kindness as it is stating how dinosaurs should play with their friends, the actual title of the book, and how being selfish when playing with toys and others isn’t kind. The secondary reading that this picture book coincides with is Sim Bishop’s “Mirror, Windows and Sliding Doors” as within the picture book the children that are illustrated are kids of minority groups. For kids that are a part of the minority they see their own representation within these books and how they should play with other kids. The dinosaurs themselves are all of the reflective surfaces of mirrors, windows and sliding doors as a kid might want to be a dinosaur and then know how to play with others. A child might see the dinosaurs’ perspective of wanting to be greedy and play the games they want to play but also see the lesson of sharing and playing the games others want, makes them better friends. A deeper understanding would be that the sliding door in this case is the dinosaurs representing someone of a different ethnicity as the reader so the reader can understand that dinosaurs learn the same lessons as a child as they do.

[Kelsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This series has great illustrations, but is very confusing for younger readers because it appears to create mixed messages. The first half of the books show and describe terrible behaviors and ask if the dinosaurs do those things (well to a kid, the answer seems obvious: yes! They are doing those things on the page right now!). Kids see these bad examples and get ideas for bad behaviors, and then all of a sudden the second half of the books say “no, dinosaurs don’t do those things, they do these things!” which is very confusing because we just saw them doing the bad behaviors, so it seems like they do do those bad behaviors.

[Jada · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book because it talks about bad actions that aren't socially acceptable with maintaining friendships. This book also has actions that are socially acceptable so it tells children not only what they should not do but what they should. Using this book to teach children about manners, social skills, and sharing/ taking turns are the main points I'd use it for. This book can also be used to talk about emotions and what to do when you are playing with friends and have overwhelming emotions. The images in Jane Yolen's books are always consistent and detail which I enjoy.

[Amanda Calegan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is super cute, it is part of a series and I have read two of these books. This one and "How do dinosaurs count to ten". This book is definitely a way to teach young students kind of how to behave correctly in a fun manner. This is a very short book so it could be used in like a reading corner or something along with the other books by this author. The pages are filled with some great art and I cannot wait to read more and see how the other books compare.

[Maddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A social skills book that hidden behind the silliness of the dinosaur being too big and not knowing any better. The book goes over the proper ways to be a friend, all within the perspective of teaching the dinosaur how to make and keep friends. Great for an introduction lesson on respect and manners.

[Sarahs Reads ToKids · Rating 4 out of 5]

How Do Dinosaurs books are a fun series of books for your dinosaur loving young reader. The rhyming text, variety of dinosaurs, and the classic illustration of the parents make this a fun book to read. Quite a few of these books have had my husband and I laughing out loud or remembering a time the exact same thing has happened in our home.

[olivia toko · Rating 4 out of 5]

How do Dinosaurs Play with Friends is a silly fun way to incorporate reading into teaching children fun and safe play. The book is in question form which enables the children to interact with the book during read aloud. The book includes several do’s/don’ts of play time. The book is also vividly colored and features many difference dinosaurs.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another book that I'm going to read aloud at my toddler tales for my "friendship" month. Not only are dinosaurs SOOO much fun, but this book allows readers/listeners to talk about what are the BEST ways to play with a friend.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these books! I found it in my second grade classroom, but I would say that it is best for ages 0-7. Great lessons about being a good friend and it has non fiction elements like real dinosaur names!

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great illustrations! A fun way to teach children about friendship, playing, and sharing.

I don’t necessarily agree about sharing ALL of the toys (I had a couple of friends who played rough and broke things), but definitely the ones that are left out in the open when they arrive.

[Mort's Kids · Rating 4 out of 5]

How to dinosaurs play with their friends? With grace and aplomb!

This has the trifecta: adorable pictures, a solid message, accurate Dinosauria taxonomy. The pacing and rhyming is good too until Yolen flubs the ending. Alas. Even dinosaurs can't be perfect.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

My kids loved it and wanted to read it again and again. They are two, so I’m not sure how much they comprehend of the concepts, but by the third reading when I asked if dinosaurs “throw friends coloring books in the air?” boy twin emphatically said “Noooooo!”

[Kate M. Colby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jack borrowed this book from the Oxford Public Library. I picked it because this is quickly becoming one of his favorite series.

As expected, the book was a hit! I put it out for Jack to discover and he asked me to read it. He loved the dinosaurs and their silly games.

[Cam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love all her books

[Ana Gutierrez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do so love the "How do Dinosaurs...?" book series. Great books!

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want all these books, they are so precious!

[Heather Utley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good for 2-3yos.

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good introduction book for sharing and taking turns. Great for 2-4 years.

[Rosalind Andrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

This taught me good social skills as well as some names of dinosaurs.

[Laurie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Teaches behaviors you don't want your kids to do? Peter was confused.

[karen vega puga · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book talks about emotions. It explain how some student react in school. This is a good book to talk about behavior.