DINOSAUR PARTY
Origins |
Fossils |
Cave Art
Dinosaurs |
Dinosaur Party |
Dinosaur Food |
Dinosaur Crafts
Crafts and other fun stuff - just for fun!
DINOSAUR PARTY
great idea!
But how?
Our
wild suggestions should help your party be a
roaring success!!
The Dino Games and Dino Special Effects on this page can be combined with ideas on the "Dino Crafts" and a "Dino Food" pages to make your party really special! Games requiring a craft activity are linked to the craft page, so you can just click for instructions.
'DINO PARTY' INVITATIONS & THEMES
CAVE PAINTING INVITATIONS
'Cave-paint' your invitation message on to flat stones to give to your friends - unless you need to post them!
Postable Alternatives:
Do your postman a favour and make your invitations on card!
Cut out some
rock-shaped cards to decorate with 'cave-paintings'
Cut out some
dinosaur-shaped cards and add your message.
EXCAVATION OR HUNT?
Consider the games you have chosen for your party. Do they suggest a particular activity? Your dino-party could become a "Dinosaur Excavation" (and your guests
"palaentologists") if you chose the excavation activity, and perhaps made people dig up the fossils in the treasure hunt (instead of just picking them up!). Or if you want lots of fossil activities, why not go for "The Great Fossil Hunt"?
DINO SCENERY EFFECTS
'DINO DECORATE'
Create a leafy forest
Gather real leafy branches and make fake ones by twisting lengths of brown wrapping paper into 'vines' and tape on paper, tissue or fabric scraps - they don't have to be 'leaf shaped' to look good. Look out for anyone who's trimming in their garden a few days before your party - or volunteer to cut a neighbour's hedge!
Stuff a Dinosaur.
Borrow a dinosaur dressing-up costume and stuff it to make an instant dinosaur model.
Cut-Outs.
Cut out and paint big dinosaur shapes and blue-tack them to the walls or stand them between big pot-plants (or shrubs if your party is in the garden).
Create a 'Cave Entrance'
Disguise your front door. Fix cardboard and leafy twigs in an irregular arch to shrink the doorway and disguise its rectangular shape . Strew a few rocks around the place if you can find any - or
make your own rocks.
Lay
'Dinosaur Footprints' in front of the 'cave entrance'. Tape down carboard cut-outs or spread soil or sand (on a protective plastic sheet) and impress footprint shapes.
'DINO FOOD'
Your guests will want to enjoy their food, so don't chuck out all the old party favourites!
But why not take a look at our great a 'Dino Food' ideas to get you started - they include chocolate fossils, excavation cheesecake a Big Boulder Party Cake and lots more!
DINO SOUND EFFECTS
Create background forest noises as your first party activity, then you can play back the sound effects to add to your 'special effects' .
Jungle Noises
The kids all create dinosaur roar and jungle noises to record and playback during the party. Use whatever recording equipment is most convenient - a cassette player, a computer or even an mp3 player might work.
Jungle sounds include:
- Rustling leaves - flap sheets of newspaper
-
Monkeys hooting and chattering
-
Birds whistling and tweeting
-
The crash-rustle of heavy animals moving around and breaking the undergrowth.
Create a Rain Storm
All sits quietly, then, using both hands or both feet as appropriate:
- Rub together fingers and thumbs (rustling of leaves in faint breeze).
- Rub hands on thighs (wind getting stronger).
- Rub both hands together (louder).
- Tap hands on thighs slowly and quietly, then getting louder and faster (but not too fast, this is the pitter-patter of rain starting).
- Now smacking thighs quite fast, start tapping your toes gently on the floor, getting louder and faster.
- Continue smacking thighs and start stamping feet on the floor as fast as possible (the noisy peak of the storm with thunderous rain).
-
Then reverse the actions as the storm moves away.
DINO GAMES
These games all need to be prepared well in advance!
DINOSAUR GRAVEYARD
Make big dino bones (instructons on
Dino Crafts page) and heap them in a pile.
Each person (or 2 or 3 people working together) must remove as many bones as they can
without making any other bones move
When any other bones move the next person (or team) have a go.
The winners have collected the most bones when the graveyard is empty.
DINO EGG or FOSSIL HUNT
This is a way of giving each guest a special party gift to take home with them.
Make your own
'Dino Fossils' or
'Dino Eggs' and hide them before the party. You could make sets of eggs in various sizes (collect a full set). If you are having an 'Excavation' rather than a party, you could bury the fossils in a box of soil at each location, and give the guests a spoon with which to excavate them. You can do a fuss-free hunt or take a bit more time to devise clues directing your guests to the location of each new 'nest' of eggs or 'heap' of fossils. Make sure location contains enough fossils or eggs for each guest, and explain that each person may only take one egg or fossil.
DINO EGG RESCUE
Make lots of
'Fertile Dinosaur Eggs' and devise your own 'Egg Rescue' team game.
For fun, include these stages:
A Race to complete the challenge before T. Rex arrives, or two teams operating side by side to finish first. (The T. Rex option is less chaotic and allows the other team to watch the fun, watch the timer and
roar like T. Rex when the time is up.)
Challenge. Navigate obstacles successsfully to reach the eggs and transport them safely through more obstacles.
Hatch them! Finally, when all the eggs are gathered in, all the eggs must be broken open and the plastic dinosaurs counted. If using water in the eggs, provide buckets and measure how much water was saved during the 'hatching' process. If the teams 'tie' you could use the bigger water volume as a tie breaker.
DINO
'FEEDING' GAMES
DINO-EGG EATING COMP
Make two
'Dino Bone Chopsticks' to pick up and eat as many tiny chocolate eggs as you can in a set time (eg. 20 seconds).
Set a kitchen timer where the audience can all see it, and tell them to
roar like a hungry dinosaur when the time is up.
FEEDING FRENZY CHALLENGE
You need
'Big Dino Bones' (longer than your guests' arms) with a fork attached to one end.
- Split the children into groups (minimum 2 per group).
- Explain that they are dinosaurs, and will become extinct if they can't eat the food in front of them (fruit or chocolate) using the bones.
- They must hold the bones at the end, so that they are longer than their arms.
- To win, each 'dinosaur' on the team must have eaten some food, by using the bones.
- Make it clear whether you expect all the food to be finished or not.
Can't work out how to get food into your mouth?
You may need to give your guests some helpful hints if they are getting frustrated by the apparent impossibility of this task! Visit the
Dino Crafts page - you will find
the solution if you scroll to the
end of the page.
