Toy dinosaurs are a timeless classic toy, loved throughout the generations. My boys are always keen to play with toy dinosaurs, especially T, so we were happy to add to our collection with 7 great new toy dinosaurs from Schleich.
Today I’m sharing ways to introduce sensory play with toy dinosaurs, and over part two of this series I’ll be concluding the rest of the 10 ways to play with dinosaurs with some games and educational activities.
Although my boys are happy to create their own child led free play with the dinosaurs, there are so many cool activities that you can use this type of dinosaur for. Here are just a few of them!
For all of our activities we are using the Schleich dinosaurs that you can see below:
Sensory play with toy dinosaurs
These types of dinosaurs are brilliant for incorporating into sensory play. You can find lots more ideas for sensory play materials here but we played with the dinosaurs in a tray of chocolate moon dough (it’s really easy to make) which makes a great dinosaur terrain as it can be compacted up to make rocks or volcanoes or left powdery and sandy for the dinos to smush underfoot.
We also used a tuff spot to set up a larger play environment with the dinosaurs and multicoloured water beads. Using a theme that the children are interested in, like dinosaurs, can be a great way to bring their attention towards new sensory materials and keep them focused in the play for longer. Because these Schleich dinosaurs are pretty big they work really well on the large tuff spot. They are plastic and will wipe clean so using them in messier materials like shaving foam would also be fine!
You can make dinosaur footprint fossils in any kind of moldable dough. We used left over theraputty which is a bit firmer than playdough, but any playdough will work, or clay, or salt dough which you could then bake to keep a permanent keepsake of the dinosaur footprint (perhaps paint it too!)
To extend the footprint activity your child can make a foot print for every dinosaur and then shuffle them up and see if they can match each footprint back to its owner!
If you’re happy to get your dinosaurs a little messy then you can try Dinosaur Stomp Painting like this activity from Cutting Tiny Bites. This looks like so much fun. We haven’t tried it with our new dinosaurs yet but if you use washable paint, I’m pretty sure they should be fine. We’ll check it out on some old dinosaurs first!
Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.
My son has some of these dinosaurs, they’re brilliant. I really like the idea of incorporating them into sensory play. Thanks for the ideas, already looking forward to your next post xx
Our dinosaurs are always making their way into our messy play activities! Thanks for linking up to #Playtime