Best Dinosaur Crafts and Activities for Kids – Templates Included!

Whether you’re planning your own DIY summer camp or need some activities for holiday break, I hope you’ll find these dinosaur activities and crafts helpful! For a full breakdown on my summer camp at home routine, check out this blog post!

Craft Dinosaurs Out of Pasta

This craft is so easy and low prep! If you’re a bad artist like me, you can download my free dinosaur stencils to help your kids create dinosaurs out of pasta. Let your imagination ROAR!!

Supplies:

• Various types of dry pasta. Penne, rigatoni, macaroni, and orecchiette were the most useful!
• Cardstock
• White School Glue
• Dinosaur stencils

Paleontology Fossil Excavation Sensory Bin

Take your salt dough recipe to another level! I used my dinosaur play dough mats as a stencil to make dinosaur fossils. Once the dinosaur bones are cooled from the oven, I placed them in a plastic bin and poured cornstarch ooblek over the fossils until they were mostly submerged. I placed the fossils outside in the sun. It’s summer here, so it only took about 12 hours for the ooblek to harden. Then my kids excavated the fossils using brushes and palette knives (don’t worry, they aren’t sharp!)

Supplies

• Salt dough
• Ooblek (there really isn’t a perfect recipe for ooblek. I started with equal parts cornstarch and water. Check out my taste safe sensory post for a recipe)
• Plastic Bin
• Palette Knives and brushes
• Disposable Table Cloths
• Kids aprons (trust me you’ll want these!)

Salt Dough Recipe

• 4 cups flour
• 1 cup table salt
• 1.5 cups water

Mix salt dough ingredients. Then use my dinosaur play dough mats to shape your fossils. Bake the salt dough at 250 degrees Fahrenheit for about 2 hours. The thicker the fossil, the longer bake time you’ll require.

Dinosaur Suncatchers

These dinosaur sun catchers are a great activity for children to develop their fine motor and gluing skills! Use my dinosaur sun catcher templates to create the perfect shape dinosaur! Simply insert your design in the plastic page protector. Let the kids trace the dinosaurs with glue, or create your own designs! After the design fully dries, gently lift the sun catcher off the plastic sheet and hang it in the window!

Supplies

• Dinosaur sun catcher templates, printed
• Different colors of glitter glue
• Plastic page protectors

Dinosaur Sensory Eggs Experiments

I made three types of dinosaur eggs: fizzing eggs, ice eggs and jello eggs! Incorporate them all into one sensory bin, or have three separate experiments!

Fizzing eggs

• Using plastic gloves, mix 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp cornstarch and 1 tsp water in a plastic bag until ingredients come together.
• Add 1-2 drops of food coloring.
• Mix within the plastic bag until incorporated. Remove mixture, flatten in your palm, and insert a tiny dinosaur.
• Shape into an egg and freeze until you are ready to play!
• Using a dropper, drop vinegar on the eggs and watch them fizz!

Ice Eggs

• Freeze a dinosaur toy inside a balloon.
• When ready to play, have your child use a dropper to drop water. Add salt to the melting eggs quicken the process.

Jello Eggs

• Gently crack the tops of eggs and empty the contents. Rinse.
• Add a tiny dinosaur toy to the empty eggshell.
• Pour premixed jello and refrigerate until the jello is set.
• Challenge your child to gently peel the eggshell to reveal the jello egg inside.
• Have your child excavate the dinosaur from the egg.

Chia Seed Goop Recipe for Dinosaur Sensory Activities

Add Chia Seed Goop to any sensory bin for an extra fun taste safe experience!

• 1/2 cup chia seeds
• 1 cup water
• food coloring

Add all ingredients to a bowl and let the chia seeds soak until they coagulate and get goopy!

I hope you have a DINO-MITE time with these tested and proven dinosaur activities! Let your imaginations ROAR!

---

Other Recommended Crafts & Activities

Check out these other kids craft and activity ideas! From science and crafts, to cooking and travel, there is something for all ages to enjoy!

---