Excavate dinosaurs from ice eggs!

dino eggs pinnable

We did this fun dinosaur activity to help use up some of the boys’ restless energy the week before baby sister was born, and it worked really well. Simple set-up, not a lot of mess, and they were calm and busy for a good 40 minutes!
Dinosaur Egg Ice Play

To make them, I put Safari Toob dinosaurs inside balloons. My husband (with his stronger fingers) held the mouth of each balloon open, while I stuffed a dinosaur in. Then we filled the balloons with water and tied them off.

Dinosaur Egg Ice Excavation

I froze the balloons overnight on a cookie sheet to keep them from getting lines in them from the freezer racks.

Excavating Dinosaurs from Ice Eggs

To play with them, I cut the balloons off of the ice eggs. Then I put the eggs in plastic tubs and gave the boys water droppers and warm water (in cups) for melting the eggs and getting the dinosaurs out. Using the water droppers was a really engaging activity for Gresham and Owen (7 and 4).

Dinosaur Egg Ice Excavation

Jonathan (2) didn’t understand how to load the dropper, but he had fun investigating the ice and squirting with the dropper when someone else loaded it for him!

Excavating Dinosaurs from Ice Eggs

We did this activity on a cold day, but it would be perfect to do outside in better weather! It was fine inside – we just had to dry off the counter when they were done. 🙂

More Dinosaur Activities:

3 Comments

Post a Comment
  1. Lisa @ This Pilgrim Life Jun 10, 2015

    Have you even done this and had your boys chip away at the ice with anything? Or just warm water? I'm planning my son's birthday party and would love to have these as an activity but am trying to figure out how to have the warm water out for everyone.

    Reply
  2. Katie Jul 1, 2016

    I have used this for many years in my preschool classroom. Lots of excitement as they get closer to the dinosaurs. There are a few different kinds of medicine droppers that will work with the different levels of fine motor skills you have present in your class. Kids love this!!

    Reply
  3. Emily May 22, 2017

    I did this activity with my son during our dinosaur homeschool unit and he loved it! I wrote about it in blog here: https://www.hunnyimhomediy.com/for-the-kids/home-school-dinosaur-theme/

    Reply

Post a Comment