7 Dinosaur Activities for KS1
It seems that there is a day set aside to celebrate pretty much anything, and today is International Dinosaur Day! I didn’t realise such a thing existed until this year either, but it seemed like the perfect time to share some of our favourite dinosaur activities that any KS1 child will love.
Make Dinosaur Masks
This first one has minimal effort and fuss. Simply Google free dinosaur mask printable and you will find a huge array of different types and styles to choose from.
We went with these from Itsy Bitsy Fun which were perfect for what we were looking for. Print on card, let them colour them in before cutting them out and adding string or elastic. It keeps little ones occupied for a little while and provides lots of role play fun afterwards.
Take part in the TRex arms marshmallow challenge
This came as a recommendation to earn our T-Rex Challenge Paw Print Badge, and the kids had the best time doing it. It works on the very simple premise that a T-Rex has arms that are so small, they can’t use them to eat. So, challenge your kids to have a race to eat a plate / bowl of mini marshmallows without using their arms.
It’s a lot of fun and a tasty snack time treat all rolled into one!
Make some dinosaur biscuits
Simple but effective. Baking together has so many benefits. Not only is it a lot of fun, but it teaches children an important life skill while working on both hand eye coordination and maths.
We use a standard biscuit recipe from the Good Housekeeping cookbook I was given for Christmas YEARS ago, but there are literally hundreds of recipes available for free online. However, to add even more sweetness for my chocolate loving family, we always melt some down to add on to the bottom of any biscuits we make. Delicious!
Hide some dinosaur ice eggs
I shared this on my Instagram stories a few weeks ago and I was so impressed with the ice eggs I then saw people share.
This is easy in theory but in practice you need to make sure you find dinosaurs small enough and without many sharp points! The reason being is that you need to add your dinosaurs to a balloon, be careful though as the balloon can split while you’re trying to get the dinos inside. Once they are in though, simply fill the balloon with water. Once full, tie closed and pop them in the freezer for a few hours. Once frozen solid, tear the balloons off and you have some dinosaur ice eggs reach to smash!
I hid our eggs around the garden for the kids to find and then excavate. Their favourite bit no doubt was smashing the ice on the patio!
Be king or queen of the jungle for the day
This one can be really enlightening, and once again comes from Paw Prints. The T-Rex was the king of the jungle, so ask your little ones what they would do if they were king or queen for the day. It generates a wonderful conversation and you learn so much about what is important to them in that moment.
If it’s not too outrageous then why not let them dress up and act as king or queen. Be warned though, this is a slippery slope which will have you serving as a minion for the rest of the day!
Make a dino world from recycling
One of the things my two love to do is create masterpieces (I use that term loosely) from old junk. We keep a tub full of things ready to upcycle in our conservatory which they can dip in to whenever they like. Think cardboard boxes, yogurt posts and anything else that can be given a new lease of life in the name of art. On this particular day, Henry found an old box he declared he wanted to make into a dinosaur world.
Add some tissue paper, string, cardboard, glue and stones (as well as plenty of help from Daddy) and they managed to create a pretty impressive dinosaur world. No dinosaur world is complete without a volcano, beach and forest of course.
This has been around for weeks now and to be fair has been played with most days. There is something really lovely about seeing children play with something they have made. Though to be fair if I were a dinosaur, I would be happy to play in this too!
MAKE DINOSAUR FOSSILS
Last but not least, this is an oldie but a goodie! We’ve done this one a few times before and it’s something that my two come back to time and time again.
These dinosaur fossils are really quick and easy to make out of salt dough and are great for burying in the sand ready for excavation. You can find my post on how to make your own here.
There we have it, 7 dinosaur activities for future palaeontologists. Why not give one of them a go today?
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