Make this sensory dino dig activity with us using homemade salt dough fossils!
The funniest part of this activity is listening to your kid butcher the word paleontologist.
“Pay-lee… pay-lee-on-tol-ol-ol-o-gist…”
Elena (age 4) is really into dinosaurs right now.
We’ve been watching the Netflix show Gigantosaurus, which has really fueled her interest in dinos.
She now knows more dinosaur names than I do, so I’d better catch up if I want to have an intelligent conversation with her!
How to Set Up a Dino Dig at Home
Last year, we visited The Children’s Museum in Indianapolis.
The dino exhibit there is really cool, and you can watch scientists at work behind large glass windows.
Elena really loved putting on goggles and digging for fossils at the museum’s dino exhibit and pretending to be a paleontologist.
This dino dig is based off that idea, although on a much smaller scale.
The set-up is a little lengthy, as you need to make the fossils first, but if you get the kids involved, you can extend the activity over two days.
STEP 1: Make salt dough fossils
Our salt dough fossils are made of three simple ingredients (flour, salt, and water).
Mix together 1 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of salt, and 1/2 cup of water.
*For more details and ideas on what to do with salt dough, check out this post.
I needed an extra half cup of flour on the day we made these fossils, as it was very humid.
If your dough is very sticky, add as much flour as you need to make it smooth and pliable.
Shape the dough into fossils. We made:
- a dinosaur skull
- a dinosaur footprint
- shell and starfish imprints
- big and small bones
I know my “dino bones” look a lot like doggy treats! I am not a sculptor, OK!
STEP 2: Wait for Salt Dough fossils to dry
This is a great time for a nap…😴
You can air dry the fossils overnight (for thinner shapes), but thicker ones will take longer.
I prefer to dry salt dough in the oven at 200 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 to 2 hours.
Poke the fossils every time you check on them in the oven. If they are hard and don’t give when you poke them, then they are done!
Wait for them to cool, then gently wiggle them loose. Turn them over to make sure the underside dries completely.
You can also put a piece of parchment paper underneath before baking if you’re worried that they’ll stick.
STEP 3: Fill a bin with sand and bury the fossils
I placed the fossils in our sensory bin and covered them with play sand from a local home improvement store.
The girls used paintbrushes to brush the sand away and uncover the fossils.
TIP: Remind kids to brush gently so sand doesn’t get in anyone’s eyes!
If you have goggles, I would encourage you to have your kids wear them, just in case!
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Playing and Learning with the Dino Dig
This activity is a great segue into learning about how dinosaur fossils were made and about real paleontologists and what they do.
We own a couple books on this subject, which I’ll link below.
- My Encyclopedia of Very Important Dinosaurs
- Fly Guy Presents: Dinosaurs (our version is old, but this one is from the same publisher)
After this activity, Elena wanted to dig in our backyard for dinosaur fossils.
However, she disliked getting muddy, so that put an end to our backyard dino dig pretty quickly.
I’m thrilled about that.
Saved by the mud!
Your Turn to Try a Dino Dig Activity
Once again, here is the link to my salt dough recipe post.
If you don’t want to make these fossils, you can buy these really cool looking fossil skeletons online.
I also like this set which includes real fossils and gemstones.
Happy digging!
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