Dollar Store Dinosaur Table

Materials Needed from the dollar store: Storage bin, fake moss, brown box/basket paper shred, different sized rocks, colored rocks, sand. 

Instructions: Dump materials on table, watch kids have a blast. My kids seemed to really enjoy this table. They made up stories about the dinosaurs, decided the green rocks were either treasure or dinosaur eggs, and made a meeting place for all the elder dinosaurs. Clean up is easy, just sweep it all back into the bin and bring out another day! 

Animal Track Fossils

Materials needed: 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup salt, 1 tbsp cooking oil, 1 tbsp cream of tartare, 1 cup boiling water, animal toys with different feet.
Step 1: Making the dough. Combine flour, salt, cooking oil, cream of tartare in a large bowl. Add in the cup of boiling water and slowly mix it. It is really important to make sure the water is boiling. I tried with just hot water and the play dough had a completely different consistency. Once it cools a bit, have an adult clump the mixture together until it is cool enough for kids to handle. Knead until desired consistency is reached. Feel free to add some sand to give it a cool texture when it's finished.

Recycled Crab Craft Activities

Possible Materials needed: Red soda cap, red foam paper, yellow foam balls, glitter, sand, water, jar, foil, googly eyes, green/yellow thread, tape, hot glue, etc.

There are so many things you can do with this cute little guy once you make him. All you have to do is glue two googly eyes to the top or side of a bottle cap and cut out some red claws and legs out of red foam paper. (If you aren't planning on using water, use red construction paper.) However, while you're waiting on this little dude to dry, start creating a home for him. You can be creative. I tried creating a sensory bin for him to live in, jars filled with different items. Submit your crab homes to kiddocrafts@gmail.com to be added to the blog!

Dinosaur Tracks Art Project- Using Dinosaur Toys!

Materials needed: Dinosaurs, Paint, Q-Tips, Paper Plate, Paper.

This was the first project of dinosaur week. Something easy, fun, and uses the toys they already have. It helps to have a variety of dinosaurs so you can talk about the differences between the types of feet.

When I first started this project, I simply had the kids dip their dinosaur's feet in the paint. However, this resulted in mostly paint blobs, making it hard to even tell it was a footprint. We then switched to painting the bottom of their feet with a q-tip. Much better results. After the project, a few of the girls decided to give all the dinosaurs a bath in the sink to clean them up. 

Cheeto Your Teacher! (Shaving Cream+Cheetos)

Materials needed: Shaving cream, food coloring (optional), puffy cheetos.

This was probably my favorite Friday Funday activity! Since we knew it'd be 70 degrees we wanted a silly/messy outdoor activity for the kids. This activity only requires three things: puffy cheetos, shaving cream, and a teacher not afraid to get messy.

Instructions:

Step one: Have teacher cover upper body with shaving cream. We added some green food coloring because it was the Friday before St. Patrick's Day.

Step two: Have kids stand behind a line and toss puffy cheetos at the teacher. If it sticks- they get to throw again! Some of our younger kids were having a lot of trouble getting it to stick, so after a few tries we would let them walk up and stick it to him. We actually ended up running out of shaving cream. The more the better! It works better if you do a base layer and then add more without rubbing it in.

Green Sensory Table

Materials needed: Different types of pasta, rice, green food coloring, green rocks, sugar, acorns, scoopers, spoons, containers etc.

Well, I decided to walk around my house and collect everything that was green. If it wasn't green, I used food coloring and dyed it green. Since St. Patrick's day is just around the corner, my kids decided to make houses and cupcakes for leprechauns.

The first thing I did was walk into my kitchen and pick out a few items. I chose two types of dry pasta, rice, ramen noodles, and sugar. I dyed some light green and some dark green. I know there are a bunch of ways to dye food, but I just poured some food coloring in and stirred. My favorite is the sugar because it looks sparkly once you add food coloring. Just make sure you break up the clumps from the dye.

Cootie Art (Straw Blowing Paint Activity)

Materials needed: Paint (3-4 different colors), straws, cups, spoons, paper (the thicker the better), googly eyes, glue. 

The first thing you need to do is water down your paint. The white/purple/green cups show how much paint I started with. The orange/yellow/red cups shows how much water I added. Make sure you stir the mixture a lot. If the paint is too thick, this will not work at all. You want the paint to be really watery and smooth.