A Jurassic Lark

What fun we had on Friday...it was Dinosaur Day.

I'd chalked dinosaur prints up the path - then inside the house I stuck a paper trail from the door to the lounge

tip-These were made from brown paper packaging from Jon's Amazon parcels. I made a very weak water and flour and stuck them down to the tiles and laminate the night before. Afterwards they lifted up very easily and I just mopped the floors clean with a Flash solution.

In the lounge was Dino's Cave

tip- I moved the coffee table onto its side against the door, and put my IKEA igloo in front. I draped it all in the roof fabric of that dead gazebo. Some huge rhubarb leaves added character.

A sign said Dino's Cave, Keep Out. I wasn't sure if Rosie would be anxious, so just inside the cave was a letter which expolained Dino the Dinosaur had gone to visit Tom T Rex for the day and she could play there safely. In fact she was quite excited and dived in without a moment's hesitation.

tip We did all sorts of dinosaur related activities - I found a set of movement cubes online which you threw like dice, and then did the instruction which was on top [Stomp Like a Stegosaurus etc] The weather waqs good so we ran round outside stimping and roaring for that one.

We learned a dinosaur action rhyme  and added our own verses. The twinkl website had free dinosaur counting sheets to print off. GlueDots had a good pattern for chomping clothes peg T-rexes

There's pages of stuff out there if you only look! Liz had picked up Andy's Amazing Adventures Magazine, which ties in with the BBCs Andy's Dinosaur Adventure programme. So we read the story, did some of the pages - writing, counting and colouring, and made the "Gizmo" using the template on the back cover.

tip - I joined three strips of lining paper into one big square [I actually sewed it on my machine, but I could have used sticky tape or glue]

Then after some practice 'dinosaur posing' Rosie lay down on the paper. I drew round her to make a Rosiesaurus. A tail, ferocious jaws and terrible hair were added. We painted this using potato stamps.

Finally we made a Jurassic Park scene. Rosie had brought her three small plastic dinosaurs from home, plus a plastic egg [and My Little Pony Unicorn!] and these creatures went into our park.

tip - I'd made up some playdough beforehand, we pushed this into the eggbox tray and then planted sprigs of rosemary and other twigs to make a forest, I had some very dried out 'commercial' playdough in a tub - dark brown because last year, all the bright colours were mixed together into a sludgy lump. I warmed this in the microwave and made a volcano, pushing a plastic bottle top into it to form a crater for the bicarb. 

We made a little Jurassic Park Scene, and stood playmobil figures round the outside to observe what happened.

I'd asked Rosie's Mum and Dad to arrive early, and Rosie put on a wonderful display of her activities - dancing and stomping and chomping - and getting them to join in. Then we went to the dining table and they were invited to sit down and watch the volcano erupting in Jurassic Park.  I was very generous with the bicarb so there was plenty of lava!

We had a fabulous day - but it did get rather muggy inside that Dinosaur Cave - maybe it is a good thing I have no sense of smell right now. I've added most of the links, in case anyone wants to do dino stuff with their littl'uns. It will save you time trawling round the Internet...

This was pretty thrifty day too - scrap paper footprints, flour and water paste and playdough, a cave made from stuff round the house and garage, leaves and twigs from the garden, potatoes, bicarb and vinegar from the kitchen, and a BBC magazine - plus the few dino models Rosie had already.  You really don't need to spend a lot of money to entertain and educate the children.