Dinosaur Crafts
Dinosaur Nest - Melt butterscotch, peanut butter, or chocolate chips in the microwave. Put a few chow mein noodles in each section of a muffin tin. Pour melted chips over noodles. Let cool. You can put jelly beans in for the eggs after your nests have cooled. Pop them out of the muffin tin and serve.
Pasta Dinosaur Fossils - Glue various pasta shapes to black construction paper to make a dinosaur fossil.
"Real" Dinosaur Fossil - Press plastic dinosaurs into air dry clay or playdough and let dry.
Dinosaur Dig - Get a tub of those little plastic dinosaurs and bury them in the sandbox when the kids aren't watching. (We have a sandbox in the back yard.) Then take them out and tell them you're digging for dinosaurs. Once you show them the first one, they will keep digging until they find them all. It's great fun!
Dinosaur Skeletons - Glue uncooked pasta pieces (spaghetti, egg noodles, rotini, etc.) to black construction paper to make dinosaur skeletons! You can also color the pasta for a little added flair. I've also seen dinosaur shaped pasta that would be fun to color with markers and glue to black paper.
3-D T-Rex - This is a simple paper Tyrannosaurus Rex that you print out, color, cut out and assemble. Unfortunately, it won't stand up on its own, but the kids like it anyway.
Easy Erupting Volcano - This is really fun to do with a group of kids, but it's also messy. There's also a more advanced version of the volcano that you could do with modeling clay instead of fimo.
Dinosaur Eggs - My son did this craft in a preschool class -- he thought it was so "cool" that it's still sitting on a shelf in his room with his other special things. This is how they did it: Blow up a small egg shaped balloon. Dip strips of newspaper in modge podge and wrap them around the balloon. You only need one layer all around and you could also use Elmer's glue. While it's still wet, stick pieces of tissue paper to the outside of the egg. Make sure the tissue paper is smoothed down. Let dry. When it's done, the tissue paper blends together to make a sort of watercolor effect.
Standup T-Rex - Another printable dinosaur to cut out and glue together to make it stand up. You can also print it out on colored paper to make it different.
Dinosaur Tooth Necklace - Use model magic or homemade playdough and make tooth shapes out of the clay. Poke holes in the top of each tooth and let dry completely. String the tooth or teeth onto a piece of yarn and tie the two ends together to make a necklace.
Pasta Fossils - Put macaroni into a zip-lock bag and close. Break up macaroni by stepping on the bag. With hands, mix several tablespoons of glue into 1½ cups of potting soil. Continue adding glue until dirt holds together. Mold into a ball. Press out soil ball on plate to 1/2" thick. Arrange macaroni pieces on soil to look like a dinosaur skeleton. Press pieces in. Brush a coat of white glue over entire surface. Let dry overnight. Remove from plate.
3-D Stegosaurus - This is another printable dinosaur that you can color and cut out to make a dinosaur that stands up on it's own when finished. Stegosaurus is my personal dinosaur favorite.
Other Theme Resources
Animal Planet Dinosaur Bucket
Crayola Model Magic Bucket: Assorted Colors
Dinosaur World (Great Big Flap Books)
The Big Book of Dinosaurs: A First Book for Young Children
How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?
Snappy Little Dinosaurs: Have Some Prehistoric Fun!
Dinosaur Roar!
Or Search Amazon for More Resources...
