Dinosaur activities are a fun and educational way to engage children in learning about these fascinating creatures. Here we share over 20 of our Dinosaur Activities for Children.
Here are some of our dinosaur-themed activities for children:
Digging for fossils and bones
Using a sensory base such as sand or mud, bury some fossils and bones for children to discover – include a brush, a mini spade, a magnifying glass. Can the children identify the bones?
THe bones and fossils featured here are from Yellow Door Education.
Dinosaur Explore and Investigate Table
As dinosaur play is such a popular activity here I regularly set up a station to explore. Both indoors or outdoors. Here’s a few of our recent set ups. We have loved the addition of this wooden section tray from Steg and Rex too!
Measuring Bones – match and measure!
Adding maths and measure to play. We love these bones from Yellow Door. We use them not only in dino play but also in the mud kitchen and also around halloween. We also recently bought the Dinosaur APP to go alongside the bones and match and measure cards – it was lovely to add on activities to resources that we have used for a while to gain further interest and learning. And with the children keenly into their devices, this APP is a great way to engage them in learning.
Small World Dinosaur worlds
Create an inviting small world for your children using dinosaurs, volcanos, bones, a sensory sand or soil base. We usually use one of our trays from Cosy Direct and fill it with mud, sand, bark, grass clippings to form the base.
The little stand and bamboo guttering are a great fun addition to any tray play. From Cosy.
Erupting Volcanoes
A great science experiment and fab messy play. We used the new Yellow Door volcano here as it has a little section in the top to add your bicarb of soda and vinegar for an eruption!
Dinosaur Skeleton investigation
Can you recognise the dino from its skeleton? We love this little peg puzzle for children from Just Jigsaws.
Watch a Dinosaur documentary
David Attenborough has some amazing documentaries on this and fossil hunting discoveries. Also CBeebies for more age appropriate content for younger children.
Discover prehistoric teeth
As part of your Dinosaur investigations, why not take a look at some Prehistoric teeth. Kids love sharp teeth…could your children match teeth with their owners? Could they give them a clean?!
Make clay dino fossils for your play
Use air dry clay to make your own fossils. Press Dino skeleton figures into the clay, let them dry then paint them. We loved this activity and they have lasted years.
Make a dino egg or volcano using papier mache
Use papier mache to make a volcano for your dinosaur world scene!
Playdough rollers and sensory play
We love the dinosaur play dough rollers from Yellow Door education. They are so much fun. We use play dough a lot in all of our play as it add a sensory element to the learning. We use Bees Busy Boxes for most of our playdough. It has a lovely texture and smells divine. They also sell a fab dinosaur activity box which we take away with us on holidays.
Can you tell that play dough is a favourite choice here?!
Oh and one more play dough dinosaur activity to share here too:
Dinosaur stories and bookish play
Harry and his bucket full of dinosaurs and others including factual books are great added to play.
Dinosaur themed mud kitchen
Now this has been a very popular mud kitchen theme for us. If your children have an interest in dinosaurs, they will love a mud kitchen themed in this way! We love this Mud Kitchen from Millhouse and we dress it regularly with a different theme for play.
Dinosaur sensory tray / sensory bin
Why not add a tinker tray filled with dinosaur themed bits and bobs from Yellow Door to explore.
Dinosaur Jigsaw Play
Get children off their devices – We love a jigsaw to enable the children to move away from screens and focus on something else. Children get great satisfaction from completing a puzzle. Jigsaws aid in hand eye co-ordination, fine motor skills and encourage team work. With a keen interest in Dinosaurs, children can be encouraged to finish a dinosaur themed jigsaw puzzle, with conversations around which dinosaurs they recognise, perhaps dino noises too! The ones featured here are from Just Jigsaws.
Visit a museum
The Natural History Museum in London or a local museum that may have a dinosaur section – Wollaton Hall for us is great.
Visit a library
Have a walk to your local library to source some fact books about dinosaurs. Perhaps go on the bus to make it even more exciting!
Dinosaur loose parts sensory tray play
These little dinosaur loose parts trays are a hit. I added lots of loose parts for the kids to add to the trays. You could use purely natural items or add anything the children can find. Or even play dough. This dino was from Perry’s Woodcraft.
Dinosaur Discovery Shelves
I added a variety of dino accessories to our dolls house from ikea. We love this house for not only small world play but also display an array of resources to explore and discover.
Just a few more here! Hope we have inspired you and your dinosaur play! Do let me know.
Lottie Makes 
Great Ideas! I’ll have to do some with my daughter.
LikeLike