8 Dinosaur Activities for Dinosaur Obsessed Kids
Whether you are a kid or an adult, one thing’s for certain – dinosaurs are pretty damn cool!
Unlike a lot of things we were obsessed with as kids, dinosaurs only seem to get more interesting as we learn more about them.
I mean, who didn’t watch Walking with Dinosaurs (shoutout if you remember that show) and wish they could actually walk with dinosaurs, well the cute ones anyway.
If you want an excuse to free your inner child, why not try some dinosaur activities with your actual child! Here are 8 dinosaur activities for dinosaur obsessed kids.
It’s Time to Get Cretaceous
All jokes aside, creative activities are absolutely vital for your child’s development. Whether it’s learning fine motor skills or how to socialise with other kids, they are fun ways to challenge kids minds and bodies.
The trick is making them fun for you too!
The great thing about dinosaur activities is that you can often have as much fun as your children. It’s your chance to be creative and educational all at the same time.
The following list has plenty of activities that will give you an excuse to indulge your inner palaeontologist and do some research (or just rewatch the Jurassic Park movies).
1. Make Some Dino-tracks
While your kids can’t walk with dinosaurs, they can walk like dinosaurs. If your child is old enough, get them to draw a pair of dinosaur feet on two paper plates. Then, if they are old enough to do so safely, get them to cut out their designs.
Lay down a long sheet of paper (ideally in a hallway) and then strap the plates to their feet. Then all you need to do is dip their new dino-feet in paint and let them walk all over the paper. Try mixing in different paint colours or footprint sizes to make some crazy tracks!
If you have a sandpit, or a patch of dirt in the backyard, you can go for an even more realistic look. Walking on these surfaces will leave imprints and you can have a lot of fun seeing footprints as they might have looked 65 million years ago.
2. Make a Dino-mask
Since you’ve already got a packet of paper plates handy, why not add a mask to the ensemble as well? Get your child to draw a dino-face and then colour it in or paint it.
When it’s ready cut it out – but don’t forget the eyeholes! I guarantee your kids will want to look at themselves in a mirror while they are wearing it. If they growl or roar, don’t forget to act scared, even if they just look adorable.
If you pair the dino-mask with the dino-shoes, in no time at all you’ll have your very own little T-Rex terror running around.
3. Build Your Own Jurassic Park
This dinosaur activity lets you build your own mini jurassic park at home, and all you need to do is buy some toy dinosaurs. The best thing about this activity is that it doesn’t take any effort at all. Simply supervise your kids while they have fun playing with toy dinosaurs in the grass or the garden.
At ground level, small plants will look like big prehistoric trees compared to the size of the figurines. It will be great for your child’s imagination to pretend that the little dinos are alive and interacting with each other.
If you don’t have a yard or unit, try using a pot plant or a large glass jar to create miniature environments or dinosaur terrariums. Your kids will love having their own slice of prehistoric life!
4. Bake a Dino-cake
Want to know one thing that’s better than cake?
Dino-cake!
That’s right, for this dinosaur activity you get to bake a cake with your children. Sounds like a pretty delicious deal to me!
Instead of using boring vanilla or chocolate icings, take a more exciting approach. Try a green triceratops with chocolate bar horns, or maybe a brown ankylosaurus with chocolate flakes for armour plates? It doesn’t really matter as long as your kids are having fun.
The best thing about this dinosaur activity is that the whole family will get a nice treat after it’s done.
5. Carnivore vs Herbivore Game
Keeping with the food theme, this dinosaur activity is perfect for slightly older kids, because they’ll need knowledge about carnivores and herbivores. Print out some pictures of different kinds of dinosaurs, or create a slideshow on your laptop or iPad. Using the photos, get your child to sort the carnivores from the herbivores.
If it’s the first time they are learning about it, try saying meat-eaters or veggie-eaters to make it a bit easier to understand. Once they have a solid understanding, you can start playing.
For an extra incentive, try introducing some rewards. If they get a certain number of answers right, offer them a prize. Maybe an extra slice of dino-cake!
6. Toilet Rolls (not as boring as it sounds)
I know toilet rolls aren’t the most glamorous art and crafts material, but bare with me!
You’ve always got access to them, and they are strong enough to hold their shape, while being flexible enough to easily cut them with scissors. That makes them good for most arts and crafts, but it makes them especially good for dinosaur activities.
Most dinosaurs were four legged animals, with long, thick bodies. So with some accessories (and a little imagination) your child can easily transform a humble toilet roll into a majestic stegosaurus.
Using the toilet roll as a base, try adding pegs or pipe cleaners to form the legs. Then because the roll is cylindrical, you can insert whatever your kids come up with as the tail and the head (a folded sock makes a great tail). Then all it needs is a lick of paint and you’ll have a – sculpture – to put on your desk at work.
7. Kinetic Sand Palaeontology
So far, this list has mainly featured dinosaur activities that picture them as they looked when they were alive. But a big part of our fascination with dinosaurs comes from unearthing them and discovering how they died. Even now, new species of dinosaurs are being discovered.
A great way to keep this sense of wonder and discovery alive is with kinetic sand excavation kits. There are some really great ones available for sale, but you can also make your own by buying some toy dinosaur bones and hiding them in a large container of kinetic sand.
Give your child a little spade, brush and magnifying glass and let them explore looking for bones. As they discover them, this dinosaur activity will double as a puzzle because they’ll have to figure out how to put the skeleton together.
8. Eggs Trapped in the Ice
Similar to using sand, this dinosaur activity freezes a dinosaur figure instead. Place a figure inside a water balloon filled with water and then freeze it. Once it’s frozen, you can cut away the balloon and you’ll have a frozen dinosaur egg.
Your child can then watch in amazement as the egg thaws and gives the appearance of the dinosaur ‘hatching’. The best thing about this activity is that it takes basically no effort, and can be repeated over and over with a new dinosaur each time.
Have You Considered a Childcare Centre?
At Little Miracles, we specialise in creating all different kinds of activities and games to keep your children engaged.
We frequently try different themes, including dinosaurs, to introduce different subjects to children to assist their development.
If you’d like to learn more about Little Miracles childcare centres, visit our website.
We have preschool centres throughout NSW, explore our centres below:
To enquire about child care centre vacancies, visit our contact page.
