Looking for a fun dinosaur activity/craft to do with the kids? Either at home with your toddler or as part of an activity in a preschool/nursery/school?

Have a look at this really simple and fun activity, making dinosaur ‘fossils’ (imprints) using toy dinosaurs and salt dough.

What do you need? 

– Salt dough ingredients:

• 3/4 cup Water
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup salt

– Dinosaur toys (we used these by Learning Resources Uk*)

– Paint for Decorating

How do you make them? 

Mix the salt dough ingredients in a bowl, stir and then knead into a ball. (See our more detailed Salt Dough Recipe here)

Separate into small balls for the kids to flatten and then press into them using the plastic toy dinosaurs.

They can press the whole body into the salt dough for a ‘complete fossil’ or just the tail.

They could even do Dino footprints!

Pop in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius and keep checking until hard but not brown.

Once dry, the children could paint them or even use them to fill with play dough to make ‘casts’.

What can children learn from this activity and how do they benefit?

• Learn about the world we live in- discussions could be promoted about how fossils are made, when the dinosaurs were around, where fossils have been found etc.
• Numeracy- Measuring ingredients for the salt dough.
• Creativity- decorating and making the fossils.
  
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