Dinosaur Party Games and Activities

Dinosaur Dig

If you have a sand pit bury some bones in advance (you can use dog treats the sand pit we used is a half of a child’s clam shell swimming pool) and give the kids plastic hand shovels and paint brushes to excavate them. As soon as they touch a bone with their hand shovel they then have to use the paintbrush to smooth away the sand in order to excavate it delicately.

For older kids make your own fossils by pressing plastic bugs into clay and leaving to harden in the sun. If you don’t have a sand pit just burry them in buckets of sand. Just don’t forget to make a note of how many you buried so you know when they’ve all been found.

Dinosaur Egg and Spoon Race

Turn a classic party game into one of your dinosaur party games. Just pick up a couple of pairs of kids dinosaur feet online and have them run dinosaur egg and spoon races in them to slow them down.

Hunt the Dinosaur Egg

No dinosaur party games would be complete without a dinosaur egg hunt. Check out this great tutorial that shows you how to make amazing dinosaur eggs by painting mini watermelons (below, by Debbie at Wants and Wishes). Once you’ve made them hide them around the garden and play hunt the dinosaur egg. For younger kids take a photo of the egg before hiding it and have each child look for a different coloured one by showing them the photo of it.

 Create Your Own Fossils

Make your own fossils (below, by Preschool Rock) ahead of the party by following this step by step guide, then hide them all around the party for the kids to find. Have a competition to see who can find the most with a special prize for the winner. Even if they don’t win, the kids will love cracking them open to find the dinosaurs inside.

 Cave Painting

Print off illustrations of different dinosaurs  ahead of the party (see free printables). On the day hang a roll of brown butcher’s paper on the wall and draw some prehistoric scenery on it, i.e. rocks, palm trees, volcanoes etc. Then have each child colour in one of the dinosaur illustrations and arrange it on the ‘cave wall’. Do this in a garden shed or a room where you can dim the lights and have them use a lantern to simulate being in a cave.

 Whiplash

Check out this tutorial by Jessica from Running with Scissors for how to make these cute tie-on dinosaur tails. Arrange a number of dinosaur themed props of different weights (inflatable dinosaur, dinosaur egg, palm tree etc.) on a plank of wood propped up at each end on a few books. Then have the kids take turns to wear the tail and see how many of the objects they can knock off the plank in 30 seconds while blindfolded and whipping the tail at them—no hands allowed.

 DIY Dinosaur Island

Check out this link for how to design, make and painting a dinosaur island for their toy dinosaurs to play on after the party.