Children's Dinosaur Games

Dino Dig

• Bury different types of dinosaurs in a sand box. Give each child a small plastic shovel and let him pretend to be a paleontologist. If a garden patch is open, let the children dig in the dirt using small trowels. Offer small paintbrushes or toothbrushes so they can clean any dinosaur finds.

Dinosaur Search

• For each child, print a picture of a dinosaur on an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper. Cut out the shape of the dinosaur and then cut the picture in half. Hide both sheets of paper in the backyard or around the house. Have the children find their matching dinosaur pieces.

Dinosaur Egg Relay

• Decorate plastic eggs with small dinosaur stickers or use permanent markers to make spots on the eggs. Divide the children into teams and hand each child a spoon. Balancing the egg on the spoon, the first child runs to the other end of the backyard and back. Then he carefully slides the egg into the next person’s spoon without using his hands. The game continues this way until all team members have gone. The first team to finish the egg relay wins.

Dinosaur Says

• Similar to Simon says, one player calls out an action such as “Dinosaur says, stomp like a dinosaur.” All of the children act out whatever the caller said. Every once in a while, the caller shouts an action without saying "Dinosaur says." If players do those actions, they are out. Here are some possible actions: roar, stomp, run, fly or scratch the ground like a dinosaur.

Footprint Relay

• Print two sets of large dinosaur footprints and tape them to the floor in a staggered pattern. Create two dinosaur nests out of brown craft paper. Place several stuffed animals in the nests at the end of each team’s footprint pattern. Divide the children into two teams. Each player jumps from footprint to footprint to reach the pile of stuffed animals then saves one from "being eaten by the dinosaur" by running an animal back to the team’s line. The winner is the first team to "rescue" all of their animals.

Dinosaur Match

• For a quiet indoor game, set up a dinosaur matching card game. Print matching pairs of 10 to 12 different dinosaurs on white card stock. Laminating the cards increases the sturdiness of the game. Mix the cards and place them face down on the floor. During a player&'s turn, have her turn over two cards. If the dinosaurs match, she keeps the cards and goes again. If they don’t match, turn the cards face down again and the next player gets a turn. The winner is the child with the most matches.