Smashing Dinosaur Eggs

When your child has a birthday coming up and a love of dinosaurs, the party theme is pretty easy. But what does one do at a dinosaur party?

I started researching and came across various blog posts with recipes to make your own Dino eggs that involved cracking open the egg to reveal a dinosaur. Great!

Using a stick to mix the egg mixture works well

I gathered my little paleontologists and we set to work.

This is an activity to get little hands busy, messy, and having fun outside making the eggs, while also practising waiting until they are dry enough to smash open. My number one tip is to make a big batch, as they are rather fun for big people too!

You’ll need 3 ingredients:

• Water

• Sand (play sand from the hardware store or your sandpit works well)

• Cornflour

In a bowl, mix 2 parts sand to 1 part cornflour and combine well, slowly adding water until the mixture just forms a ball. If it’s too runny, you’ll make pancakes, and if it’s too dry, it won’t hold the egg shape. Add more sand and cornflour if the mixture is too wet.

Forming the Dinosaur eggs

Start forming your egg shape in your hand and place a dinosaur inside, covering it up with more mixture to create a dinosaur egg. Place the eggs on a tray and allow them to dry in the sun or a covered area for 1–2 days until hard. Then you are ready for a smashing good time!

Smashing eggs at the Dinosaur play table

You can use spoons, wooden hammers, or simply smash the eggs on the ground. This is the part little ones will enjoy most—figuring out how they wish to discover the dinosaurs hidden inside. Having a bowl of water nearby is also great for a dinosaur bath to help reveal which dinosaur they have discovered.

The nest of Dino eggs, using some tree branches and paper packaging.

You can easily turn this into a dinosaur discovery game by hiding a nest of eggs at the park behind a tree, or setting them up as a part of a sensory table with bark, leaves, sand rocks and plastic dinosaur for some roaring good open ended play.

Add some cocoa powder to create muddy puddles for the Dinosaurs to explore.