Prehistoric friends for building life skills
Building life skills that support safety, self-reflection, resilience and interrelationships are vital learned behaviours for children to develop.
Can-Do Dinosaurs is a delightful card resource for building these vital skills, it recognises that children are capable of many things.
Each of the 28 cards features a specific skill and a corresponding dinosaur illustration designed to help young ones develop a repertoire of skills. They are easy to use, and best of all, they are fun and can foster healthy conversations with children about many essential life skills.
Can-Do Dinosaurs is ideal for supporting individual or group development in areas that include personal worth, responsibility for feelings, behaviour and much more.
This engaging and easy-to-use resource is essential for early childhood workers, preschool teachers, primary teachers, social workers, and child and family service workers. Parents can also introduce their kids to these quirky dinosaur characters to encourage positive habits and healthy self-esteem.
These fun and appealing skill-building cards are ideal for children aged 3 to 7 years old. Minimal text ensures the cards are accessible for both literate and pre-literate youngsters.
new! with every card set purchased, you now get exclusive access to an online toolbox of extras.
The Toolbox includes:
- a digital version of the booklet.
- access to a digital set of the cards that you can download and use anywhere, anytime.
- ideas banks, blogs, card hack videos, interviews and other support material.
We are adding and updating the Toolbox content regularly so check in to see what’s new.
**Look for the download link for the QR code in your order confirmation email.
Suitable for:
- Early childhood and preschools
- Primary schools
- Counselling
- Social work
- Therapeutic settings
- Child and Family service settings
- Parents
Additional resources:
Published by Innovative Resources
28 full-colour laminated cards and booklet 210 x 148mm
Presented in a polypropylene box
Designer and illustrator: Kate Northover
Author: Russell Deal
ISBN: 9 781 920945 398
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Stories and Reviews
Can-Do Dinosaurs and the family
I was working with a family that two children (aged 9 and 11) who had been court appointed to live with their Dad. Dad had a new wife and two smaller children. He had not seen the children for six years.
I used the Can-Do Dinosaurs to start some positive discussion and to have each person see what the others saw they brought to the family unit.
Sitting round the table, we took turns to hold the cards and chose one for each person present. For example, the boy chose a card for himself, then one for his sister, his Dad, step-mum, and step sisters. I asked him to give an example of why he chose that card for them.
I took a photo of each family member and used the Can-Do Dinosaurs to make a reminder of what was chosen for them and by whom, so that each of them had a reminder of the things the others had chosen for them.
This helped the family see that each member was contributing to the family unit, and that the small things they did were appreciated by the others.
Jillian Olver (Gold Coast, QLD, Australia)
Bombs and Sauropods
In March 2013, Innovative Resources received a message from Nicole Rotaru, an aid worker and educator about to begin a two year contract in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan. She was leaving to join a group working in the region. The mountains, which cover some 48,000 square kilometres, lie at the geographical heart of Sudan, and have been the site of a two-decade long conflict over religion, resources and ethnicity.
Before she left, Innovative Resources donated several card sets for Nicole to take with her. There was no guarantee the cards would reach their destination—in the warzone roads are few, cars and trucks unreliable, and transport of food and other essential items takes priority. But in May, Nicole and the cards made it safely to their destination, and she generously sent news and photos showing the cards in the hands of children and patients at a local field hospital.
Nicole’s photos showed the children at the hospital enjoying the Can-Do Dinosaur cards. ‘This was the first time the children had used the cards,’ she wrote. ‘They delighted in the bright colours, the funny, crazy pictures and seeing something new. Many of the children do not speak English, but had fun repeating the captions after me. “I can…” was said with strength and adults joined in the activity and had fun.’
‘The laughter generated was a marvellous tonic! “I can…, I can…,” indeed! The Nuba people have great courage, determination and resilience. They have lived through oppression, hunger and war for most of their lives.’When we made contact with Nicole in October 2013 it was a welcome, peaceful day in mountains. Life, for the time being, was quiet for these children who have little experience of peacetime.
