I was wondering if anyone has made any type of 'homemade' dinosaur dig for the kids to dig up? We are studying dinosaurs right now, and I would love to have the have the kids dress the part a bit (thought they would get a kick out of that!) with notebooks, and go out to dig up dinosaur bones we have buried. I have found the small indoor projects and would like to buy a couple of those, but thought this little bit bigger scale idea would be neat. I can't seem to find bigger plastic dinosaur bones. So far, I can only come up with those Halloween skeleton decorations you find, and that seems kind of creepy, but could lose the head I guess and use the bones in some fashion. LOL Anyone done this idea? Sher
We did a smaller one, I filled an old style oval wash tub with sand and put dino bones in it (I found some wooden kits for building dinos) then let them dig up the bones and try to put them back together.
I know this might be out of sequence. But a lot of the skeletons in museums are actually paster. And when archeologists dig up the bones they cover the bones in paster in order to protect them during transport. Then casts are made from the bones and the paster bones "aged" and assembled for display. They might like the idea of making their own "bones" to find. You might be able to find molds someplace like Hobby Lobby and paster is not real expensive. Just an idea.:idea: Marty
We did one from a Bill Nye video, gosh it was years ago now so I forget it all, but we used sand, salt, water and a few sponges cut into bones. It was a HUGE hit!
Great thread Idea! This could be a fun thread - we are also doing Dinosaurs for our science. Maybe some hsing gurus could post some fun ideas and things they've done/used for us newbies that might be, ahem, having trouble just getting the hang of things - let alone being creative about it!!! I didnt even think of the costumes, or the dig....Thanks!!
Nobody laugh! This idea comes from a homeschool family with only one income.... We used clean and dry chicken and turkey bones. Promise not to laugh! My dh and buried them in the back yard in the dinosaur area and my kids dug them up with their dinosaur digging tools. Don't forget the paint brush for the delicate whisking away of dirt and the orthodontic tool for detail work.
I'm not laughing at all Mamabear!! Thats a wonderful Idea. We always have chicken bones around here cause we raise them ourselves. And the farm has lots of places to hide them!! Marty
We did dinos last spring. We got a little egg shaped dino dig thing at the dollar Tree. We also did the Bill Nye sponge experiment (didn't work very well for us, but maybe we didn't add enough salt or let it dry long enough). We also put toy dinos in the sand box in the back yard to dig up. Here is the link to the first of the Bill Nye video on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXvvoTGC7vk Our library also had several books that had some interesting experiments to do for dinosaurs and geology, but I can't think of most of the titles off the top of my head. They did have a Bill Nye book that we used along with the video.
Thanks! I love the ideas! My kids love Indiana Jones, so they get a kick out playing the part. Katie, I had read that idea somewhere, so you are not alone in using the chicken bones, good idea! That would give some curved shaped bones to include. Marty, I think the guys would absolutely love making bones, we will have to try that! I might find a pack of those little toy birthday party compasses and some cheap bandanas & little notebooks, and have them search through our woods to find a suitable dig area (with my hints as to which area). Have them draw a little map in the notebook, where the dig is located, what type of trees (we are beginning a study on trees in our forest) and other things of note that are nearby. I might even give them some string and little wood pegs and let them mark off the area? All super inexpensive, and yet educational and fun. Thanks for the link Ange Sher
Sorry coming into this a little late. I did one when I did my internship. I put rocks, twigs, acorns & a few other things...I didn't use any bones, but had a check list for them to find!!! We made dinosaur eggs out of soap & used a small plastic dino to put in the middle!!!
