Roarsome Dino Ideas!
Who knew we’d be learning so much about dinosaurs at our age! Grandmas gotta join in! Just pick your favorite dino – the kids do most of the talking anyway. Warning, I started out nodding in interest, and now I’m painting them!
Our favorite sugar cookie cut-out recipe and an original Grace T-Rex cut-out concept.
Our newest find is the Dinosaur George Podcast. It isn’t kid jokes and goofy music, it is real, engaging dino fact stuff. Some are more than an hour long! Jack loves the “who would win in a battle part.” “Dinosaur George” Blasing is a self taught paleontologist and animal behaviorist with more than 40 years of study and research. Blasing is a public speaker, author, and television host and writer who has performed live to over 4 million people and has lectured in over 4000 museums, schools and public events. He is the writer, co-creator and host of JURASSIC FIGHT CLUB on the History Channel. His website has clubs to join with video lessons (3 levels and great for a classroom gift as well), a shop with replica dino fossils, and more. He even has a traveling museum!
Stick figures – sticks make excellent dino bones. Collect different sized sticks on a walk or in your yard and arrange on construction paper with glue. You could do some research on skeletal details, but the kids kinda know the necessary structure. Googly eyes are always a good addition.
Dino Stomp – Grace still gets these out. Purchase pairs of inexpensive flip flops at a discount store. Cut large dino footprints from colored foam core (might also find at the dollar store). Use duct tape or sturdy package tape to tape the flip flops to the footprints (tape them closer to the inside of the footprint for easier stomping).
Frozen dino eggs – fun addition for the pool, tub, or your juice glass (I’ve found some very tiny dinos in the Safari Good Luck Minis line). Stretch out the neck of a balloon to carefully insert a small plastic dino inside the balloon. Fill the balloon with tap water (just a cup or less), tie a knot in the neck of the balloon. Freeze these bundles and cut away the balloon for play. Tiny dinos might fit in an ice cube tray for a roarsome beverage.
Dino Garden – might be more fun than fairies, right?! We found “bone dinosaurs” at Oriental Trading Company, using them in our special garden and the sand box. For the garden, we buried the bone dinos to excavate after harvest – so fun! We arranged dinos and dino families with the planting, pretending an upside-down beach pail was the volcano. It was fun to see them peeking out as their jungle grew around them. The kids couldn’t help but rearrange with each watering.
Plastic cases, stickers, and felt from Michael’s, gravel, rocks, and varying sizes of plastic dinos make for endless hours of tidy diorama play.
Dino Color Cut & Create – I credit this little product with amazing small motor improvement with Grace’s scissor work. The thick black outlines leave lots of room for error. Sturdy paper engineering - so many dinos and environmental details (70!) to create impressive dioramas. Easy instructions - they worked on these for days! You might want to get some red glitter to add some sparkle to the hot lava volcano.
Dinosaur Bingo – This is how the grownups learn to pronounce them all, and how the new readers practice sounding them out. Nothing better than a 3-yr-old pronouncing “giganotosaurus.” Bingo is a hit for all ages – the kids have been playing it since age 2.5, and often won at that age!
Jurassic Park Uno – also something we play often. Try making one of these easy card holders with the kids, or use a large paper binder clip. Always more dino items on our Amazon Fun Finds page.
Dino Destinations – Did you know that Road Scholar Grandparent/Grandchild trips include one to Mount Rushmore and a prehistoric mammoth sinkhole Junior Paleo dig? Follow their calendar for more. Find out where to see dinos in the Twin Cities. Before our last trip to the Science Museum, we practiced sketching our toy dinosaur bones in a journal to concentrate on shapes and details. We then took the journal along to talk about details and sketch them “live” at the museum. Keep a look out for other traveling Dinosaur shows in your city.
Our post also has a list of Dinosaur Movies for your next movie night.
Pick out some fun dino fabrics for out 3 Fabric, 3 Seam pillowcases - don’t forget the secret messages! Or find some dino polar fleece for a tied blanket for their next sleep-over.
We have to tell you about Dino Dana too - a whole TV series about a dino-loving girl (And how her family puts up with it)! Lots of imagination and information. You can find her on Amazon Prime and Youtube. She also has games and apps.
Invite a dino into your living room with this fun Google Image trick you can do with your phone. Find all the instructions HERE.
Dino Fashion – For Grace’s 3rd birthday, I embellished a simple Target jean jacket with an array of dinosaur and floral appliques I ordered from Amazon, some iron on, some hand-stitched. She still squeezes into it two years later – definitely a conversation starter. My instructions have the links for the appliques. I’m sure we will be making another version, maybe even in my size.
I have a new line of Dinos Reading notecards (don’t forget your Grandycamp member discount) and, of course, you must send them with T-Rex stamps!
BOOKS So many books, so little time in this case! Since Grandmas are “classics,” we’ll just remind you of a few of our classic favorites. Be sure to join our newsletter to keep up on the latest and greatest! Amazon shopping links provide a small amount of support to Grandycamp, but we also support libraries and independent bookstores.
Danny and the Dinosaur by Sid Hoff. Originally published over 50 years ago, this beloved classic is a Level 1 I Can Read is perfect for the beginning reader. Danny and his prehistoric playmate have more fun than this dinosaur has had in a hundred million years!
How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? by Jane Yolen, illus. Mark Teague. This one started a whole series! The little humans will recognize their “tricks of the trade” of bedtime behavior.
Patrick’s Dinosaurs by Carol Carrick, illus. by Donald Carrick. One Saturday while visiting the zoo, Hank tells his brother Patrick all about dinosaurs, and Patrick scares himself by imagining what it would be like if the great creatures were alive today.
Dinosaur Bob and His Adventures with the Family Lazardo by William Joyce. The Lazardo family brings back a peculiar souvenir from their trip to Africa - a dinosaur! Ah, but Bob is the friendly sort of dinosaur - the kind who enjoys playing the trumpet and tossing around a baseball.
We Don’t Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins. It's the first day of school for Penelope Rex, and she can't wait to meet her classmates. But it's hard to make human friends when they're so darn delicious!
Dinosaurs on the Go Boxed Set by Penny Dale. This was the perfect gift when Jack was three. Penny Dale's dinosaur books have it all: construction vehicles and all sorts of cars, trucks, trains, helicopters, and rescue vehicles with dinosaurs. Tons of kid appeal, bursting with noise and energy and a surprise ending!
MORE dino ideas as we find them on our Grandycamp Dinosaurs Pinterest Page!