A Prehistoric 3rd Birthday Party

And just like that, my little boy turned three. He asked for a dinosaur party this year and I thought that it’d be fun to put one together that also incorporated details from our weekly nature studies. He loves dinosaurs, but more specifically, he loves dinosaur bones, fossils and the process of identifying- so it seemed very fitting to focus on the science and discovery aspects of the prehistoric time period. This year it was important to me to minimize waste so I made as much as I could by hand, bought minimally and repurposed items that I already had. I made a really simple vintage-inspired hanging frame for a poster I bought on etsy, and pieced together a fun “specimen frame” using real fossils. I also set up an activity area (primarily using items that we already had at home) that contained some fun activities, such as making dinosaur tracks and excavating dinosaur bones.

— DIY vintage-inspired poster hanger —

Materials:

– 2x wood half dowels (cut to a length that is about 1” longer than the width of your poster
– double sided foam mounting tape
– thumb tacks (the ones with the flat heads, like these)
– twine

How to make a DIY vintage-inspired poster hanger:

With the flat side down, attach the half dowels to the top and bottom of the poster using the double sided foam mounting tape. To attach the hanger: Turn the poster upside down. Push two thumb tacks into the backside of the top dowel on opposite ends, leaving a small amount of space to wrap the twine around. Wrap the twine around the base of each tack and tie a double knot. Once both sides are secure, push the thumb tacks in all of the way. And that’s it! Those amazing dinosaur prints are pages from vintage children’s dinosaur books. We’re accumulating quite the collection!

— DIY fossil specimen frame —

Materials:

– deep frame or shadowbox frame (ours is vintage)
– thick cardboard, like the kind that shipping boxes are made of
– paper, for the background
– double sided foam mounting tape
– assortment of fossils, real or replicas

How-to make a specimen frame:

Cut the cardboard down to match the dimensions of your frame. Glue the paper onto the cardboard (whatever paper you want to use as the background. I used a piece of scrapbooking paper that we had). Lay out the fossils and attach each one to the board using a small piece of double sided foam mounting tape. Print out labels with information for each fossil and glue them onto the board below each fossil. Attach the frame backing and display!

— Dinosaur bones excavation activity —

Materials:

kinetic sand, dinosaur skeleton toys, tools for digging (we used these clay modeling tools), paint brushes, large bin or container

How to set up the dinosaur bones excavation activity:

Place the kinetic sand into your large bin or container. Bury all of the dinosaur skeletons in the sand and cover completely. Provide lots of tools for digging as well as paint brushes to dust off sand. I also left out flashcards with the different dinosaurs on them so that the kids could identify the skeletons and match them with the cards. Other optional learning items are a magnifying glass and journals to record their findings.

— Dinosaur track imprint activity —

Materials:

modeling clay or play dough, toy dinosaurs, rolling pin, place mats to work on

How to do the dinosaur track imprint activity:

This activity is definitely a favorite. Elliot loves making footprints and it’s a great activity because it’s easy to set up and I love that you can let the footprints dry and save them. Set out some modeling clay or play dough and toy dinosaurs. Kids can either roll out the dough themselves or flatten pieces with their hands before using the dinosaur feet to make imprints. If you’re also doing the excavation activity, a great variation would be to use the skeleton figurines to make “fossil” imprints also.