Our Dinosaur Adventure – Our list of 9 Awesome Dino-themed activities!

Firstly…YOH(!) I cant believe how long I took to get this post out. It’s just been patiently sitting in my drafts folder since last winter, waiting for it’s time to shine. And finally it’s day has come. Although given how life has been up to now (see here), I think it’s perfectly understandable that lots of little things are going to fall through the cracks now and then. What matters is that we are gentle with ourselves, calmly come back to it, scoop ‘em up, dust them off, polish it up, and well….in this case, publish them!

I love the fact that our girls love cars and bikes as much as their baby dolls, love playing out well- choreographed fight scenes with me as the baddy, as much as they love playing tea time with their daddy. Love their Ninja Turtle figurines as much as their Barbies (maybe more actually – and somewhat remind me of my Barbie and her solid relationship with Bravestar: My Barbie could totally kick ass as much as any action hero my brother had. I even made my mom make her a sheriff outfit, so that she and Bravestar had the same career level & goals, and was equally as badass. Sheeesh, talk about gender equity awareness at the age of 9!) Anyhoo, point being, it was then no surprise to me that my girls were absolutely gaga about DINOSAURS!

There’s so much fun that can be had with Dinosaurs, that I decided to do a whole dino theme for them in terms of our structured play at home. Especially given the fact that it was winter, so I needed my indoor entertainment game to be strong! In fact, we ended up with quite a bit of a Dinosaur adventure list that it went from a Dino day to a Dino MONTH!

Everything from crafts, to digging, to messy play, it was all there! And it provided endless entertainment for our girls (meaning more sanity for mom and dad), with lots of activities that they STILL ask to do, to this day!

Keep in mind though, it doesn’t only have to be for indoor winter entertainment (which is for both girls and boys), but also perfect for any Dinosaur themed parties, or even school activities to drive home any associated lessons learnt during the day. Any reason, actually is good enough, the kids will love it!

So without further ado, I give you our Dinosaur Adventure list:

This was the list I printed out for our girls last year winter, and you can do it in any order you wish to – we did! In fact, as we went along, I asked the girls to choose which ones they wanted for the day, and scratched them as we progressed. Click here for the download:
Dinosaur day Schedule

1.Dinosaur Dig – This was perfect for using imagination, character play and just great sensory play in the sand with a spade or hands. The girls pretended to be archaeologists – yes, they actually do (kind of) know what that is – thanks, Dora the explorer! Or at least they are very sure that they go digging for dino bones and old pieces. Sand? Digging? Making a mess? Digging for lost treasures(dino bones)? Totally right up their alley! And pretty much any kids alley actually. Grab their explorer/safari hats and get adigging! Check it over here. (watch this space)


2. Ice Age Dinosaur excavations –At the time, our Parker-Grace just got into Ice Age the movie, and Morgan-Lee was rediscovering her love for it again. So this was the perfect activity for them to have their own little ice age in their home. For all the melting and excavating fun, and a cute how-to for the same ombre ice effect, see here. (watch this space.)




Dino Pool Party: Even Dino’s like to have fun every now and then. (Step One of the Ice Age activity)


3. BE a dinosaur – who says humans get to have all the fun? In fact who says you have to be human after all? (did you sing those lyrics too? #level42forthewin ) . With these masks, they get to BE a dinosaur!! This was such an easy craft, got the girls to exercise their fine motor skills and really sparked some enjoyable and cute dinosaur impersonations! For the template and details, see here. (watch this space)



4. Squishy Dinosaur Design – To even further practice their fine motor skills, playdough is always a win! We had loads of fun trying to build our own little dinos- or at least our Picasso type interpretation thereof. For my personal favourite no cook homemade play dough recipe and pics of our squsihly little dinosaurs, see here. (watch this space)

5. Dinosaur Egg Hunt – If I could tell you ONE game that would always be a win in any kids books, it would be a scavenger hunt! Time and time again, it’s a winner. Whether it’s for Easter, North Pole party, Halloween Bone Hunt, Pirate treasure hunt, Dora’s Estrella Hunt, what-freakin-ever, you name the variation of a scavenger hunt and you have a bunch of very participative kids! Swear! And this Dino Egg hunt was no different. See here for all the deets! (watch this space)


6. Botanical Gardens Dino Hunt- So right now, this is one of the easiest options for getting some dino fun in with the kids. No more pretending. Get your picnic basket packed and go hunt down those dinos for realsies! Not sure what I mean? See here. (watch this space)




Everyone say, “Dinosaauuurrrrrr!”

7. Build a Dinosaur: eat a dinosaur – This one was not too easy, as it was working with kids, working with fondant. But they still enjoy the creation process. Just remember to let go of the idea of perfect cupcakes, and focus on the fact that youre sparking creativity and the use of their imagination. They’re going to eat it anyway, so just have fun. For the deets see here. (watch this space)


8. Hatch Dino eggs – I will never forget the look of wonder on my girls’ faces when I handed them these actual dinosaur eggs! And what was even more fun for them was HOW they had to hatch these babies! Not to mention, the silly fun that hubby and I had in making them! For deets, see here. (watch this space)



9. Lava Dinosaurs –save them! Oh dear, the end of the ice age? Or just a normal day in the life of a dino, trying to escape the lava? My girls were totally engrossed in this little activity of not only making their own lava, but also trying to save their little dinosaurs from the lava! For the easiest how-to on this dino lava, see here. (watch this space)




See those dinos inside that lava oozing down there? This one remains firm favourite of our girls. never gets old for them.

And that’s a wrap folks. Those are currently the top dinosaur activities in the Porter abode, some of which, I swear, we actually did today again. In fact, as mentioned before, the girls are still very much made up with the notion of dinosaurs that they still ask to do many of these activities during the week, and have in fact, made up some of their own new activities. (They’ve scouted out the some of the most egg like stones from our stone garden, and tend to these eggs like real mama dino’s, waiting for them to hatch.

Everyday, they check up on them to see how they’re doing. Beware my soul if should ever even think of tossing these eggs back into the garden, where I thought they belonged! Boy, I learnt that lesson fast!)

Hope you have fun with your dino day! Here’s to a roaring good time with your kids! x