Dinosaur Fossil Dig Sensory Bin

I created this fun Dinosaur Fossil Dig Sensory Bin after a trip to Mid America Science Museum in Hot Springs, AR. They had a few dinosaur fossils and a huge fossil dig which L (4 1/2) absolutely loved!  

So I wanted to re create a mini version of the dig for L. I used coffee grounds for the "dirt," and 

 I bought a package of Plastic Dinosaur Skulls from Safari Ltd Toob which came with a neat fossil identifier card. I gave him an "archeological tool" (paintbrush) to uncover his fossils, which he then matched to the card. I then read him the facts on the card about his found fossil and we took it a bit further and looked up each dinosaur on Google to see more pictures and facts. This sensory bin was actually the biggest hit so far out of ALL of our sensory bins we've ever done. He loved playing Paleontologist! We did this over and over again for days... hiding the skulls, digging them up and brushing them off, identifying what they were and looking up more facts and cool pictures of each one on the internet.

Another way to play

This could easily be done with toy dinosaurs as well!  

You could print off a few pictures of real dinosaurs matching the kinds of dinosaur figures you have, then find some simple facts about each one to write on the pictures of each dinosaur sheet and use these as identifier and fact cards. I think we may do this as well to prolong the fun of this activity!

Without the fossils, it was a fun and simple sensory material for both boys.
My youngest (18mo) LOVED the coffee grounds!

Our bunny "Bear" was quite curious about our fossil dig as well! 

Here are some more fun dinosaur activities!

Dinosaur Themed Playdate

Simple Dino Land Small World Sensory Bin

and to see ALL of our fun Sensory Bins, 
click the photo below!

More Ways to Follow the Fun!