Dinosaur Excavation Activity

I have a spare dinosaur excavation kit which I kept for years, waiting for Vito to be old enough to work on it.  Well, that time finally arrived and I gave it to him so he’ll experience what it’s like to be an archaeologist, even for a day.  Here’s a pretend play of how scientists are able to put up dinosaur bones in the museums!

EXCAVATING DINOSAUR BONES

There are plenty of kits available in Amazon but one thing I like about ours was that it is BIG.  The kids really enjoyed this and were challenged.  This is fantastic activity to practice fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination and of course, maximum effort.

Below is a list of dinosaur excavation kits that you can find in Amazon if you are planning on buying for your kids:

• Smithsonian Diggin' Up Dinosaurs T-Rex
• Dig A Dino Excavation Kit 3 Pack
• Dig It Up! T-Rex and Triceratops: Set of 2

And don’t forget to provide an eye protection gear if it is not included in the dinosaur excavation kit.


The wooden hammer is from Ikea (hammering toy kit).

CLEANING THE DINOSAUR BONES

After extracting the bones from the clay, the next step was to clean them.  Your child will definitely love this too!  No need for soap, just plain water and some brush.


I explained that we need to get off the dirt and some rubbles from the bones so we can see them in more details and can easily assemble the parts.  I noted that we need to be extra careful when cleaning the bones as they are delicate and we don't want to break anything.

DRYING THE DINOSAUR BONES

Now, it’s time to dry the bones!  We used a towel to pat dry the bones.

ASSEMBLING THE DINOSAUR BONES

Once ready, it’s time to assemble the bones.  We laid the bones on the table and one by one identified the pieces.  Putting the bones together is quite tricky for younger kids because some parts are hard to snap together.  Just be sure to assist them in any way.  We didn’t have the guide (as I accidentally threw it in the bin) but it was easy to assemble anyway.

IDENTIFYING THE DINOSAUR

I provided two models of prehistoric animals to Vito so he can figure out what he is assembling.  The Mammoth and Triceratops anatomy puzzles are both from Amazon.


Once assembled, we named our dinosaur and placed it on display on our shelf, just like what the scientists would do with the dinosaur bones in the museums.



What a wonderful way to learn about dinosaurs and archaeology!  Vito commented at the end that it was a lot of work!  It’s not that easy to put up displays in museums, it takes a lot of process, skills, and hard work.  I highly recommend that you try this too!  Have fun!