Do you know a kid who loves Dinosaurs?
Did you know that Dinosaurs are the second most popular interest in pre-schoolers across the world? Well who can blame them? We all love a good ROAR!!!!
If you want to know why kids love Dinosaurs so much then read here…
But if you just want to keep your Dinosaur obsessed kid busy for a while then check out these brilliant Dinosaur activities…….
1/ Activity 1 – Make Dino play-doh eggs
All you need is some dinosaur figures and some play-doh! You can either use play doh you have or make some yourself.
You could use single colours, or try marbling two colours together. Just roll out the play-doh, put the dino inside and roll into a ball, then shape into an egg shape.
You can then hide the eggs in the house or garden for a fun dino egg hunt!
For pre-schoolers you can make it extra educational by giving them a sheet where they have to find the different colour eggs and tick them off.
You could also make a note of all the dinosaurs inside the eggs and then your child can ‘hatch the eggs’ and tick off as they find each one! They love hatching them out of the play doh!
You could also try putting the dinosaurs in plastic eggs and then wrap the doh around the egg.
2/ Activity 2 – Hunt the Dinosaur
Depending on the age of the children you can do this a few ways –
For younger toddlers you can hide the dinosaurs in plain sight (on the table at their eye level, in the middle of the floor, on the chair etc.)
For pre-schoolers, you can hide them under things and inside things and when they are hunting you can do the dinosaur version of warm / cold ( Roar for warm / stomp for cold) as they search around.
If your children are older then give them written clues or even a fact about the dinosaur they are looking for to see if they can locate the correct one (i.e. you are looking in the lounge for the largest meat eating dinosaur).
This is also a great activity to do with siblings. If you have older siblings they can even hide the dinosaurs for the younger siblings. If they are similar in age they can take it in turns to hide them for each other.
This is a great way to practice communication skills, vocabulary, and beginning observation skills plus cooperation and movement!
3/ Activity 3 – Dinosaur Treasure Hunt
This is a bit more of a structured treasure hunt and involves printing (or drawing) specified clues provided as part of the pack and then the children watch videos riddles from Ranger Ron, each riddle directs them to search for a corresponding clue.
There is a dinosaur bones puzzle too which you can put a piece of the puzzle at each clue point, so that the kids collect a piece of the puzzle at each clue point and then the final video Ranger Ron instructs them in completing their puzzle.
There are also bonus dinosaur activities where Ranger Ron teaches Dino hunting skills and his Dino rap.
An interactive activity that is ready made and can take up to 45 minutes and can be done indoors or outdoors for 1 or more children.
This activity is brilliant for following instructions, listening skills, matching, problem solving and encouraging imaginative play.
4/ Activity 4 – Dino craft stick puppets
These stick dinosaur puppets are simple to make and promote imaginative play for your kids. Once made, you can combine them with your favourite dinosaur books and then create stories together, and role play characters, with these fun dinosaur stick puppets.
HOW TO MAKE YOUR CRAFT STICK DINOSAUR PUPPETS
1/ Cut out dinosaur images or characters from magazines or posters and stick to paper or card to make them a bit more heavy weight (you can even laminate them if you can)
2/ Get a craft stick or lolly stick and attach your dinosaur cut out to the end of the stick using tape or glue.
3/ You can make as many different ones as you like. And you can even create a simple puppet theatre by draping a sheet over a table or two chairs placed side by side.
HOW TO PLAY WITH YOUR DINOSAUR PUPPETS
Role play every day activities such as walking through the park or visiting a friend.
Give your characters different voices. This helps young kids recognize sounds, distinguish characters, and use imagination.
Start a conversation with your pre-schooler about the characters.
Where is he going?
What is his friend’s name?
What game will they play?
Imaginative play like this provides an opportunity for young kids to practice language and social skills. Puppets are a great way to jumpstart the play, encouraging creativity and role playing as the characters interact.
Dinosaur stick puppets are simple to make and fun to add to pretend play.
5 / Activity 5 – Make a Dinosaur Dig
HOW DO YOU MAKE A DINOSAUR DIG?
This is a brilliant sensory activity and is very simple to set up. All you need is kinetic sand and plastic dinosaur skeletons. Bury the dinosaur bones, then invite your preschooler to uncover them using only the bristles and handle of a paintbrush or toothbrush.
After the bones have been excavated, you can work with your young scientist to identify the dinosaur.
Kids can also experiment with creating impression fossils with the toy dinosaur bones. For a more advanced fine motor workout, give your child a pair of tongs for removing the dinosaur bones from the sand.
Here are some other ideas for play with them once you have found the bones –
- Count the dinosaur bones.
- Sort the bones by size, shape, or colour
- Re-bury them and hunt again!
6/ Activity 6 – Make a Dino tooth out of air drying clay
You can buy air drying clay from most craft stores or online here.
Get a lump of clay and some blunt utensils and your child can make a dino tooth. If you make a hole in it before you leve it to dry then you can thread some string through and they can wear it as a neckace!
They can also make other Dino shapes, bones or a dino foot print!
7/ Activity 7 – Make and play Dino tracks
Cut out large dinosaur shaped footprints. Hide Dinosaur toys around the house / garden. Place the footprints down with tape as tracks which lead to the toys. For older kids the tracks can lead to clues which then have to be solved to reveal the toys.
8/ Activity 8 – Make Dinosaur Ice eggs
Put inside a balloon a dinosaur toy and then fill with water (using water balloons is easier for this but can be done with normal balloons). Tie your balloon up and put in the freezer. Once it has frozen, cut off the balloon and you will have a frozen egg. Your child can then chip away at the ice egg to reveal the dinosaur!
9/ Activity 9 – Dinosaur Stomp
Let your child stomp around with homemade dinosaur feet!
How To Make Your Dinosuar Stomp
Take a piece of cardboard and draw a dinosaur footprint on it.
Make sure your dinosaur footprint is way bigger than your child’s foot. (The cereal box was a good size for a 5 and 3 year old.) Cut it out 2 footprints and paint them green.
Poke holes a couple of inches in from the edge of the dino footprint. Take two pieces of string and tie one through each hole.
Have your child stand on the dino footprint and tie it on.
Now let your child stomp around the house!
These dinosaur feet are great for dramatic play. You can set up a block city and destroy it.
This activity encourages kids to be aware of their feet and how they are walking.
Playing the part of the dinosaur encourages creative thinking and problem-solving.
10/ Activity 10 – Dinosaur fossil art picture
Drawn the outline of the dinosaur and cut it out.
Use cotton buds and drizzle glue on them and stick them on where they think the bones are. They could copy a picture. Or they could free style. You could either do this as an exercise in accuracy or it could be a free-play art exercise and your child can be free to place them where they want to.
With older children you could make it more precise and with younger children I would say be a bit more flexible.
This activity also encourages logical thinking. Where would the bones go? How do they fit into the body? Creative thinking is a skill that grows with use.
11/ Activity 11 – Make a Dinosaur garden
This was super easy and lasted a whole afternoon including the free play! All we got was an old plant pot, some soil, stones and bits of old plants and garden bits and the dinosaur toys. And he created a land for the dinosaurs in the plant pot. We also did it with a big crate and with an old flower bed! You can use whatever space you like and get as creative as you like!
It’s easy, low cost, low maintenance and encourages imaginative and outdoor play. Winning dinosaur fun all round!
We hope you enjoyed these 11 simple, Dinosaur themed activities for kids.
Would you like a free Dino Bones puzzle for your child?
Download your brilliant triceratops bones puzzle here absolutely free!
Simply print it out, cut out the pieces and give it to your child to piece together – great educational activity to keep a young Dino ranger busy for a while!
If you want more ideas for Dinosaur fun for your child or a class you run then check our Ranger Ron’s Dino Club here.…jam packed full of Dinosaur fun, learning and activities for kids
You might also like The Best Dinosaur themed party games
Check out the Dinosaur treasure hunt to do at home…
