Triceratops Nest: Dinosaur Dig

Sammy’s Dinosaur fascination continues (thank goodness!) so yesterday we created this Dinosaur Dig.  I thought of this sensory activity after seeing the Dinosaur Land on Teachpreschool.org (such a great idea!).  Sam was so very excited to explore his Triceratops Nest in the Backyard.  It was super easy to make, and Sam had so very much fun!

I used Cloud Dough as the base for the Triceratop’s Nest.  Cloud dough is simply 1 part baby oil and 8 parts flour – we did 1 cup oil to 8 cups flour for our bin.  It is a great consistency – dry, but will stick together when compressed – I thought it would be good for Sammy, since he is still a bit sensory shy.  It was great – he actually liked the feel.

We had 8 little dinosaurs that I had gotten in a package at the Dollar Store.  They are brightly coloured – so great for this dinosaur dig!  I hid them all in the cloud dough in ‘egg’ shapes.  I then put some leaves, pine cones, and rocks around the nest – and stood Mama Triceratops on guard.

Sam loved this Dinosaur Dig.  He hunted for all of the baby dinosaurs in the eggs using his hands, a stick, and even Mama Triceratops’ Horns.  He enjoyed hiding them and finding them over and over (and over and over).

And over.

I had a bowl of water beside the sensory bin thinking Sam may want to wash the baby Dinos after they hatched.  Sammy used the Mama Triceratops to bring each Dinosaur to the ‘bath tub’ by piggyback.  I am not sure why he thought of this, but it was quite funny to watch!

I had some other small bowls outside which Sammy floated in the water and pretended were boats.  The baby dinosaurs had to take this boat to get back to their Nest.

I love hearing Sammy take on the voices of all the different characters while he plays in this imaginative way.  He used a high squeaky voice for the baby dinosaurs and a soft gentle whisper-y voice for Mama (which to me was hilarious – because Mama Triceratops looks awfully fierce!).

I am so glad we did this Dinosaur Dig –  Sammy had so much fun!  I am equally glad we did it outside – it did get a bit messy.  We will definitely be doing more Dinosaur digging!

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