Kids Dinosaur Activities for Teachers

Digging for Dinosaur Bones

• Prepare for this activity from the website, Amazing Moms by filling up a small kiddie pool with sand. Place several bones--either fake or real--into the sand, making sure to thoroughly cover them up. Gather the kids around the pool and talk to them about how humans have learned about the existence of dinosaurs through the discovery of dinosaur bones. Give each of them a small plastic shovel and tell them to excavate the area for the bones, placing them in plastic bags as they find them. To add a bit of competition to the game, have the kids race against each other to find the bones, with the person who finds the most bones becoming the Master Paleontologist (See Reference 1).

Guess Which Dinosaur

• Prior to this activity from Kids-Birthday-Party-Guide.com, discuss with the children the different dinosaurs, including the Tyrannosaurus Rex, the Velociraptor, the Brachiosaurus and the Triceratops. Detail differences between the dinosaurs, including what each dinosaur ate, where the dinosaur lived, the dinosaur's physical characteristics and so on. Write on different index cards the names of the dinosaurs and tape each index card to a student's forehead (or to their backs), making sure that no one sees their own card. Tell the students to mingle with each other and ask yes or no questions to determine what dinosaur they have written on their card. The game ends when everyone figures out the dinosaurs on their cards (See Reference 2).

Different Dinosaurs

• Play this game adapted from the website, Ultimate Camp Resource by first dividing the group into several pairs, excluding one student. Each pair takes on the identity of a particular herbivore from the age of the dinosaurs. Tell the pairs to come up with a distinct call they can use to find each other. The excluded student becomes the sole carnivore, and he can choose whatever kind of carnivore he prefers. Blindfold all of the players and separate the herbivore pairs from each other, sending them to either side of the room. Stand the carnivore in the middle of the room.

  When you say "Go," the herbivores have to try and find their partners by sounding out their distinct calls. However, the herbivores can only make these noises when stationary. The carnivore, meanwhile, tries to tag as many herbivores as he can. Yet whenever he moves, he has to ring a small bell. Whenever an herbivore gets tagged, he loses one of five lives. The first pair to find each other wins the game (See Reference 3).