Dino & Letter Excavation
We're learning about Dinosaurs this week, and this activity was one of our very favorites! Here's what you need:
- 6 Cups Corn Starch
- 3 Cups Water
- Plastic Letters
- Dinosaur Fossil Molds (I found ours at the Dollar Tree)
- Base - we used Baking Soda
- Large, Shallow Bin
- Excavating Tools - we used brushes, spoons, and play drills
1) Mix cornstarch and water together in a large bowl. The mixture will become thick as you stir, but runny when you don't stir - welcome to oobleck! Fill the dinosaur molds with the oobleck mixture, hiding a letter or two in the larger molds. Place the molds on a cookie sheet and allow to dry 1-3 days at room temperature.
2) When you're ready to play, fill a large bin with baking soda and hide the dinosaur molds in the baking soda. Have your children use brushes to find all the dinosaur bones.
3) After the molds had been found, we brought them over to a cookie sheet on the floor. The boys loved digging out the inside of the fossils with spoons, plastic knives and our play drills. They couldn't believe letters were hidden inside! Finding letters was the highlight of this activity! This activity became messy, but so WORTH the five minute sweep time after our play.
4) After we found the letters and identified them, we put the fossil pieces together to make a T-rex and Triceratops. We actually did this activity right before bedtime, so the boys took the fossils into the tub to wash off with our scrubbers.
