Fun with Fossils

My boys love to help cook and they love to get dirty so this was the perfect project for them to help me with.  Plus it was nice to have a few extra hands to help me!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Cup Sand
• 1/2 Cup Used Coffee Grounds
• 1/2 Cup Water
• 1 Cup Flour

Combine all ingredients except water

Slowly add water until thick dough forms.

Now it's time to get our your DINOSAURS!

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.  With a spoon, scoop out about a golf ball sized amount on to an ungreased baking sheet.  I used the bottom of a glass to flatten them out.  The dough will be sticky.  

Use the plastic Dino feet to make imprints in the dough

Bake for about 25 minutes.  Using a metal spatula, flip them over and bake for another 5-10 minutes to dry out the bottom.

For other Dinosaur themed projects and party ideas check out the links below
Dino-Mite Party


Fossil Cookies


Dinosaur Eggs

Dinosaur Eggs

For Nathan's 4th Birthday he requested a dinosaur party.  So I put my brain to work and came up with a few ideas and a few more thanks to Pinterest.  The dinosaur eggs are the perfect make ahead or hands on activity.  We had a wide range of ages 2-7 and they all enjoyed it.  

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Cup Sand
• 1 1/4 Cups of Flour
• 3/4 Cup Salt
• 1 1/4 Cups Dirt (I used top soil I had left over from potting plants)
• 1/2 Cup of Water (maybe a little more)
• 8-12 Small Plastic Dinosaurs

In a large bowl combine sand, flour,salt,and dirt.  Mix well with your hands, make sure to break up all the dirt clumps.  

Add the water.  Make sure you can form a ball with it.  You don't want it to be too wet or it will never dry.

Form dough into egg shapes around the plastic dinosaur.  Place them on a baking sheet or other tray and set them in the sun to dry.  Turn them every couple of hours.  Mine took about 12 hours to dry completely.

After they were dry we had to make sure that they were worthy to be passed out to our little friends so we busted open a couple as a test run.

Then the boys and I formed an assembly line.  Nathan put them in the treat bag, Evan punched the hole in the tags, and I closed up the bag and tied on the tag.

Now we are one step closer to PARTY time!

We also made these with the kids at the party.  I am glad I had some for them to take home because they take so long to dry.  The kids enjoyed getting their hands a little dirty.  Before the kids arrived I measured out the ingredients into plastic cups.  

Then I divided the kids into groups and let them work together.  That way if one of them didn't want to get dirty they could mix with a spoon.  

If the kids would prefer an edible dinosaur treat check out the Fossil Cookies