Today I want to share this adorable dinosaur craft for toddlers and preschoolers. We made this craft this week and H absolutely loved it!
H has had some big changes in her life lately. In addition to a new sister, H has stopped going to daycare and is now staying home with me.
I’m so happy to be able to spend extra time with her, but giving her enough attention and stimulation, especially while caring for a very needy newborn, has been a challenge. She is used to having four daycare buddies to play with, planned activities and outings everyday.
Staying at home with Mommy and a baby who nurses constantly and needs to be rocked to sleep for what seems like hours (to her and me!) is a big change for her.
She loves caring for her little sister and is a great help to me, but there are lots of times when she is left to her own devices.
Thankfully, she is awesome at playing by herself and absolutely loves to play pretend and role play with dolls, action figures and stuffed animals (see my post on Busy Boxes Toddlers Can Use Independently). We try to go out and do some sort of activity (park visit, story time at the library or a play group), but I’m finding she gets a little antsy in the afternoons, especially when G gets cranky.
Now that we are out of the total chaos of the first month of having a newborn (read how I kept my sanity here), I am ready to start adding some structure back into H’s day. We started doing a craft every day during one of G’s afternoon naps.
My essentials for a good toddler craft are having materials on hand, not too much set up, and of course, fine motor skills should be involved! Today’s craft was a super easy and cute dinosaur made with paper plates and toilet paper rolls. Read below for instructions!
Dinosaur Craft for Toddlers
Materials
- paper plate
- toilet paper roll
- cardstock
- paint
- glue
- scissors
- black marker
Optional:
- pom pom
- clothes pin
Instructions
- Let your child paint half the paper plate (or all if you want two dinosaurs the same colour).
- Cut the paper plate in half.
- Paint toilet paper rolls. I did this while H finished her paper plate, which took a long time.
- Cut two slits about an inch deep into the toilet paper rolls. This is a great way for your child to practice the first step of learning to use scissor, snipping.
- Slide paper plate into slits.
- Paint card stock (you could also use coloured card stock, but I didn’t have the right colours at home).
- Cut out a dinosaur head and tail (I did this freestyle).
- Glue on head and tail.
- Draw eye on head.
- Pinch pom pom in clothespin to make a daubber.
- Have your child decorate the dinosaur by dipping the pom pom in paint and daubbing it on the dinosaur. You could also decorate with stickers, markers, glitter, etc. Whatever you have handy!
Here are our finished dinosaurs!
H did a great job with this craft. She was determined to paint the entire paper plate by herself and showed great perseverance. She was so excited to use the pom pom daubber too.She is currently in a phase where she loves blue and I had to talk her out of choosing blue paint to make the spots on her blue dinosaur!
The best part of this craft was that the dinosaurs we made were sturdy enough to become toys for her. She recently watched Land Before Time and was acting out scenes with Little Foot and his friends. It was so sweet to see. When she went to bed, she asked me to put her dino friends on her playroom shelf so she could play with them again tomorrow!
This dinosaur craft for toddlers covers all the bases for me. It’s inexpensive, not too messy, very little prep and the materials were all already in my house. It was great entertainment and helped H practice her fine motor skills, as well as her creativity. I call that a win! I already have another craft planned for the upcoming week. Check back to see what we make next!
Do your littles enjoy crafts? What makes a good craft in your house? Do you have any suggestions for me for the next few weeks? Let me know by commenting below!
I love this! I too have a toddler at home along with a newborn! I am totally going to try it!
So much fun! Let me know how it turns out!!
Super cute!
Thank you! 🙂
These are adorable! My big girl is dino obsessed and my little girl is paint obsessed. This would be a fun craft for both of them!
Thanks! Let me know how it turns out if you try it!
This is such a cute idea! Thank you for sharing!
You are most welcome! Thanks for the kind words! 🙂
This is a cute idea for little ones and an affordable craft idea.
Aww this craft is adorable! I’ll have to remember this for my little when she’s older.
I love paper plate crafts, there are awesome!
This is SO cute! Pinned for later. 🙂
so, cute my son loves crafts and painting
This is so cute! I’m going to have to try this with my 3 year old-he loves dinosaurs. Thanks for the easy craft idea!!
Such a fun idea. My sun would love these.
Awesome craft idea. Will sure try
Very cute craft! I’ll be doing this at home with my little guy. He’s the last one home this year alone with mommy while all his brothers and sister go to school.
Thank you, my dino-obsessed, almost 4 year old, REALLY enjoyed this project!
So glad he enjoyed!!