DIY Dinosaur Sandpit or Fossils

Source: papervinenz.com via Kathryn on Pinterest

Digging for dinosaurs would be a fun way to keep bored grade school age kids occupied this summer and with the DIY tutorial from Paper Vine using Plaster of Paris, a hammer, cheap safety glasses some dollar store dinosaurs you can create the same experience with your youngster.  

The above a "sandpit" method where the mixture is poured in the sand with the plastic dinosaurs and it took the blogger's son nearly a week to chisel through.   Or if you are an don't have space or you just want to occupy a few children for a few hours you can use smaller molds and put a dinosaur in each mold.

Source: papervinenz.com via Kathryn on Pinterest

Walking With Dinosaurs - The Arena Spectacular

Dinosaurs Live  is theatrical/educational event of "Walking With Dinosaurs" is in conjunction with the BBC television show of the same name and if you get the opportunity to go, I highly recommend it.
We went in 2008 when it was in town and purchased the most inexpensive seats that were available, which were $29 each.  A lot more than the cost of an admission to a movie, but less than price of most concert tickets, but cheap compared to the cost it must take to produce the show.

The website indicated it takes 27  semi trucks and 65 people for the U.S. performances.   Each large dinosaur weighs as much as a standard sized car and takes a 3 people to operate it - a driver, one puppeteer to operate the head and tail and another operator for the fine motor skills such as blinking, chewing and roaring.  The narrator is on the floor the entire time and tells of the evolution of dinosaurs, along with the climate and the techtonic changes that took place which may have lead to their demise.

All of the dinosaurs are life-sized scaled and all but the Utahraptors are motorized.  You can see the actors the actors legs in the Utahraptors costume if you look closely, but from a distance in the dark it is not quite as obvious.

My son and I both tensed a bit when the life-sized T-Rex came out and let out a roar.

To hear the Tyrannosaurus Rex Roar click here - but at the Coliseum with concert quality sound it is much more intimidating!

This is was my son's favorite dinosaur when he was young - it is an Ankylosaurus.   It is sort and like a giant reptilian armadillo with a club for a tail.

A Utahraptor, T-Rex and a Taurosaurs

I always thought Tyrannosaurus Rex fit the bill for Henry David Thoreau's quote "If we will be quiet and ready enough, we shall find compensation in every disappointment." because it has such tiny little arms but such a huge jaws.

Photos by Kathryn Sprowl

 To find out when the show will be in your area click here.

If you wanted to plan this as part of an educational experience, at the website, they also have dino bios and facts, and a few free downloads here and they also have an educational kit that you can download here.


They also have three different game that you can play online:    Pile of Bones,  Design A Dinosaur, and Dig for Dinosaurs.

I decided to go a little bit Salvador Dali-ish with my T-Rex, Rexy that I made using Design A Dinosaur.  At the site you can also add up to five different animations:  blink, claw, roar, walk and wag tail. 

Disclaimer:  I have received no compensation for writing this and paid full retail price for the tickets - I just think the show is awesome.

Dinosaur Bone Necklace

See Dinosaur Bone Necklace and 1000's of others - or share your own on Cut Out + Keep


This would be the perfect thing to wear to jumpstart a learning session on dinosaurs or archaeology or wear to a field or science museum. 

This nerdy cool necklace is a DIY by Cut Out + Keep user and founder Cat Morely based on an original design by Tatty Devine that retails for £114.00 ( around $167 USD) and is made out of Shrinky Dinks, an E-Xacto knife, white wire and some jewelry findings for a fraction of the original price and you can craft your favorite dinosaur - just find a picture of it, trace it and add some rib bones and cut it apart.

My favorite dinosaur was always the Brontosaurs (although now it is known as an Apatosaurus), my son always liked an Ankylosaurs or a T-Rex.  What dinosaur is your favorite?