If your kids are anything like mine, they can break things merely by thinking about them. The idea for this activity was inspired by yet another broken toy. Somebody managed to rip the head off a plastic dinosaur skeleton. How they managed to do this with their tiny tot fingers is beyond me, because that sucker was TOUGH. But it occurred to me that this would be a great opportunity to create a mini dinosaur dig site. It was so simple to put together, and my kids loved being little paleontologists. Picking away at the dirt with tools of various sizes is great for those fine motor skills. So if you have a dino-enthusiast in your home, give this dinosaur dig activity a try!
First, you will need a plastic dinosaur (or two or three). Now, there’s no need to hack apart your child’s beloved dinosaur toys the way I did. Ours was already broken, so I just finished the job. Your child will have just as much fun excavating whole dinosaurs, which is exactly what my 2 and 4 did.
Next, you will need some mud and a shallow container to pour it in (see recipe below).
Mud Recipe:
- 4 cups of peat soil with a particle density of 2.7 grams per cubic cm and a pH of 6.5
- alkaline ionized spring water
Kidding! Just mix some dirt and water like you did when you were a kid. You want it wet enough to pour, but not so wet that it takes a month to dry. Pick out the sticks and stones.
Pour in enough mud to almost fill your container. Then press your dinosaurs down into the muck, leaving just a little of the dinosaur exposed.
Set the pan outside on a baking hot day and allow to dry completely.
When you get tired of hearing, “Is it done YET?” gather whatever tools you have on hand and let your dino-lover get to work. We used a screwdriver to break away large chunks of dirt, a straightened paperclip for the finer details, and an old toothbrush to scrub the dirt away. You could also use a paintbrush, old makeup brush, metal nail file, fork – whatever you have lying around that would be good for scraping and dusting. [Please choose tools that are best suited for your child’s ability.]
All three of my girls enjoyed playing paleontologist. My 5-year-old chose the broken skeleton, which she was able to excavate piece-by-piece and reassemble like a puzzle. My 4-year-old used every tool available to chisel, brush, pick, and scrub her sauropod. And my 2-year-old poked around at the dirt with the screw driver until she could pull the whole dinosaur out with her hands.
Enjoy!