Dinosaur Sensory Play & Archaeology

Dinosaur sensory play for the win! It’s no secret that Giovanni LOVES dinosaurs, so we’re always looking for fun ways that incorporate them into our activities.  We came across a cloud dough recipe on Pinterest & we added dinosaurs & paint brushes to create some archaeology fun & dinosaur sensory play. The kids loved it!

The recipe is super simple– it’s an 8:1 ratio of flour to oil.  We used 4 cups of flour & 1/2 cup of baby oil. You can also use vegetable oil if you don’t have baby oil.

Start by adding your flour into a bowl, or in our case, the sensory table bin. (You can see how I made our sensory table here!) The kids had fun scooping & pouring the flour, of course. We could have easily fit 8 cups of flour in the bin, but we didn’t have that much, so we stuck with 4.

dinosaur sensory play

Next, you’ll add in your oil. We actually didn’t measure this part, I just let them squeeze some in & we mixed it up with shovels. We kept adding until it looked  & felt right.

dinosaur sensory play

dinosaur sensory play

We tossed in our dinos with some shovels & paint brushes. They had fun covering the dinos, then digging them up & brushing them clean. That’s what dinosaur sensory play is all about :)

dinosaur sensory play

dinosaur sensory play

I love sensory activities because they’re child directed, & they don’t need help or instructions. They can just explore on their own & have fun with it :)

dinosaur sensory play

dinosaur sensory play

Gio taught Gabi how to roar, so we just may have another dino lover on our hands in the future, haha.

dinosaur sensory play

And of course, a dinosaur sensory play activity wouldn’t be complete unless the contents of the bin were poured, sprinkled or shoveled out at some point, haha. I think part of the fun is getting messy, so if weather permits, we always do these types of things outside! I want to let them fully enjoy playing without worrying about a mess.

dinosaur sensory play

dinosaur sensory play

dinosaur sensory play

We did lots of pouring on the dinosaurs, which soon turned into them throwing it into the air like confetti while yelling, “It’s snowing!!!” So yeah. Outside is a good place for this one, haha.

The kiddos love these types of activities, so I hope this inspires you to create your own sensory play, whether it involves the dinosaurs & paint brushes, or simply cups & spoons. Thanks for stopping by!

Check out these other sensory table ideas:

flower sensory play

no cook playdough

diy rainbow pasta

rainbow rice