Home > Crafts for and with Kids > Balancing Dinosaur Paper Plate Craft ~ STEM Activity for Kids

Balancing Dinosaur Paper Plate Craft ~ STEM Activity for Kids

Combine crafts and education and you have a fun activity that kids can get behind doing. STEAM activities do this, a little creativity and a lot of experimentation, investigation and fun! This dinosaur craft and activity for kids of all ages, is fun to make and then you can have a challenge to see who can get it to work first. So hunt out your paper plates and get making this balancing dinosaur craft for kids.

Fun STEAM dinosaur project for kids of all ages to make

Paper Plate Balancing Dinosaur STEAM Activity for Kids

This STEAM activity invites your children to craft a dinosaur that will balance on two clothespins.

It will be fun for them to create and decorate a dinosaur using a paper plate.

We have included affiliate links to some of the products and resources as an associate we may earn from qualifying purchases.

Your children will enjoy exploring different types of dinosaurs as they read the book If Dinosaurs Came Back by Bernard Most. It shares the tale of a boy who dreams about what it would be like for dinosaurs to come back. If your children have a favorite dinosaur-themed book, you may want to read that book to them too.

Discover more Dinosaur Themed Books for Kids especially the younger members of your family in our Recommendations of Dino Books to Read Together.

Materials Needed for Your Balancing Dinosaur Craft

Paper Plates

Large Wiggly Eyes

Scissors

Light Green Acrylic Paint

Gold Acrylic Paint

Blue Acrylic Paint

Cotton Balls

Clothespins

Sample pictures of just 3 of the printable dinosaur activities and games available on the rainy day mum printable store.

Creating the Paper Plate Dinosaur

Your children can draw their dinosaur onto the paper plate in pencil.

dinosaur outline on a paper plate

They will need to make sure the end of the tail and front of the head of the dinosaur end toward the center of the plate. It will help the dinosaur balance on the clothespins. The head and tail can be near the edge of the plate. The belly of the dinosaur will need to be on the curved edge of the plate. (The clothespins will attach better if the dinosaur has a flat area at the bottom of its belly.)

Then they will need to cut the dinosaur out with scissors.

dinosaur shape cut from a paper plate

Painting the Dinosaur’s Body and Legs

Children will paint the dinosaur with cotton balls placed in clothespins. They can dab the cotton ball into the paint. Then they can dab or smooth it onto the plate and the clothespins.

First, they will paint the plate and clothespins with green paint.

painting a green dinosaur paper plate

When the green paint is dry, they will dab the blue paint on top of it.

dinosaur painted and clothespegs for a STEAM activity for kids to balance the paper plate dinosaur

After the blue paint is dry, they will dab on the gold paint.

painted dinosaur

Finally, children will need to glue a large wiggly eye on the head of the dinosaur.

Making the Dinosaur Balance

When the dinosaur body and its legs are dry, children will try to place the legs on the dinosaur so that it will balance. Children may have to make slight adjustments to the legs or move them to new spots for this to happen.

completed dinosaur ready to balance on the 4 points of the clothespegs

We found two ways to balance the dinosaur. The first way was to place both clothespins near the center of the dinosaur’s belly. The second way was to place the clothespins an equal distance from the center of the dinosaur near the front and back of its belly.

alternative way to make the paper plate dinosaur stand up with clothespegs pointed straight down

More STEAM Projects for Kids

Research, design, make, decorate & fly your own paper planes in this STEAM challenge for kids. Will yours go the furthest, fly the longest, hit the target
Fun winter or Christmas themed STEAM challenge activity for kids based on the storybook and movie The Snowman by Raymond Briggs.
DIY Newton's Cradle from a shoe box

STEAM Paper Airplane Challenge

Can you make a snowman fly STEAM Challenge

DIY Netwons Cradle STEAM project for kids

paper plate dinosaur STEM activity for kids

Author
Deirdre from JDaniel 4's Mom

Deirdre is the founder and author of JDaniel 4’s Mom. A teacher from South Carolina. She has 1 son JDaniel 4th. He is ten years old.

A specialist in Technology Integration as well as Early Elementary teaching she can be found sharing hands-on learning over on her blog.

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