Dinosaurs are one of those themes that seem to inspire children around the world, and my two are no different. So having a dinosaur-themed day at home, we set about making some Salt Dough Dinosaur Fossils using a simple salt dough recipe, some toys and painting to make them look like rocks.
What you need to make these Fossils with Kids
- Salt dough using either the microwave method or our classic recipe
- Toy Dinosaurs from your collection
- Acrylic Paints or if you don’t have these normal ready mixed paints and coat after they are dry with some White/School/PVA glue
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Creating Salt Dough Dinosaur Fossils
When you have made your salt dough split it into 8 similar sized clumps give out to the children.
Although we have children’s rolling pins J and T both prefer to use my heavier weight rolling pin. They found it easier to get a smooth, even finish. With the fossils, you want a fairly thick dough – approx. 2cm (almost a 3/4 of an inch) thick.
Try making your own Dinosaur Feet a simple craft for toddlers to make and play with too
With a flat top, carefully press in the model dinosaurs (the miniature dinosaurs are great because of the details like spikes and plates on them), and after experimenting with our dinosaur box these produced the best effect in the dough.
To cure the dough before painting, follow the directions for either the microwave dough or classic oven baked dough.
Once the dough has cooled down we set about painting – acrylic paints work best but don’t worry if you don’t have any: you can use normal ready-mixed paint mixed with some white glue (PVA/School Glue), and this will work too.
I set out a selection of colours that could be mixed into rock sort of colours, so browns, black, white and different greens, and then provided 1 paint brush. Mixing the colours gave the best rock-look to the fossils, especially once dried.
More Dinosaur Related Ideas for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Recommendations for Fossils
To make it easy for you, we’ve got the complete shopping list here of everything that you will need just click through using our affiliate link to the items you need from Amazon and if you use Prime you can have them with you the very next day. An affiliate link will not cost you anything more so don’t worry it just helps to support the site and keep many of the ideas free of charge.
Flour from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Salt from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Miniature Toy Dinosaurs from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Acrylic Paint from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Looking for book inspiration for your dino fans then check out our Dinosaur Books for Toddlers and Preschoolers
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These are brilliant!! Am going to pin now. Thank you for sharing xx
Such a great idea! Will def be trying this 🙂
I am excited to use with my 23 first graders! I was wondering if you could tell me how many this recipe made. I plan on at least doubling — was just hoping to have a guideline so I won’t have an overabundance or not enough! Thank you so much for sharing! I am sure they will LOVE this!
Love the fossils. Can you air dry these?
I have made these before with Preschool Summer Camps. You can air dry them but they take a long time to dry…………. especially the extra thick ones………..lol
So fun and so easy to do! Found this particular post from Brain Power Boy’s recent Dig This Dinosaur Fossils post!
Has anyone tried these without cooling the dough first? I’m going to try these with our classroom, but don’t have an easy fridge nearby. Thanks!
I didn’t cool the dough first….they were fine for me with skipping that step.
I tried this out with my students! They loved it! Thank you for sharing this recipe.
I tried adding cinnamon to the dry mixture for a slightly brown tint…..then another batch with paprika that gave them a beautiful sepia tone which looked natural. It was my favorite. …bbut the cinnamon ones smelled great!