CheezWaster received this My First Dino Kit for his birthday. 

My First Dino Kit

I had been saving it for a rainy day or wicked hot day and yesterday turned out to be the perfect day to try it (since our Board of Ed screwed up my plan for the day by altering the time of pre-school orientation without notifying the parents).  This kit includes 3 activities – a real dinosaur dig for bones, a build your own glow in the dark dinosaur and a grow a dinosaur.  The kit also includes a pair of safety goggles and 2 tools – a brush and a digger’s pick – for the dinosaur dig activity.  We started out with the grow a dinosaur activity.  I mean who doesn’t love these little things that grow in water.  I know I do.  Ours is still “growing” in the cup at home.  Tonight we will measure to see the difference in size.  Then, we moved onto the dinosaur dig.  Safety goggles are a MUST!

Safety First!

Then, we began our intense hunt for dino bones.  I grabbed an old cardboad box for this, as it was quite messy.  You definitely want to keep this contained.  My one negative comment about this set was that it only came with one digging tool.  2 kids – 1 tool = major problems!  The Destroyer was only happy so long using the brush before he, too, wanted to dig.  We improvised and I gave him a wooden chop stick which worked great!  Conflict successfully avoided!

Digging for Dinosaurs

 We dug on this thing for a while and it really kept the kids’ attention.  We’re still not done, so big plus for mom that this activity will spill over into another day!

Is that a dinosaur bone I see???

Eventually, we put the glow in the dark dino together, too.  And when I say “we”, I mean my husband.  Given my limited engineering skills, I had to call the man in for this one.

All in all, I think this kit is great.  It is reasonably priced AND educational.  AND it was great fun for a toddler and pre-K-er.

It would make a great birthday or Christmas gift, especially if you’ve got a dino lover!  This would also make a great dinosaur birthday party activity…hmmmm….this has got me thinking.  I do have 2 winter birthdays coming up!

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1) The crickets have again taken up home in my basement.  I don’t know how they are getting in or what it is about late August – perhaps the fear of the cold of autumn, but this year, it seems no amount of Home Defense Bug Killer can take out the mutant crickets because my husband and I had to chase this humongous (and super fast) cricket through the living room the other day.  In the battle for territory, I WON!

Mutant Crickets attempt to take residence in my house

2) My garden has pretty much bit the big one this year.  It has been so hot that my corn completely dried up after only giving us 3 crappy pieces of corn, my tomatoes have had a terrible case of stem rot all season from the heat and rain extremes and my cucumbers just never seemed to thrive after the first few heat spells in June.  The only things that seems to be holding on well are the paprika and banana bell peppers and the leek.  With the last batch of half-way tomatoes I picked, I’m going to make bruschetta in a jar (for Xmas gifts – recipe and details to come soon).  But hey – at least the kids are enjoying the peppers!  The Destroyer ate 2 raw banana bells peppers and a cherry tomato last night.  He’s our champion (and healthy) eater!

Yummy Peppers from the Garden

3) My husband is still unemployed, but is learning the ways of frugality (I’m so proud!).  These are his basement shoes – the ones he uses to work around the house or in which he’ll run out to take out the garbage.  Men truly can fix anything with duct tape!

Men can fix ANYTHING with DUCT TAPE!

Working hard on our Dora Cupcakes

On Sunday, we celebrated Dora’s Big Birthday.  We invited some friends over to watch the new Dora birthday special.  Once everyone arrived we all made Dora cupcakes, using the instructions here at NickJr.com.  The cupcakes are simple to make and would make a great activity for a Dora birthday party and it doubles as dessert!

Making Dora Cupcakes

I made regular cupcakes from cake mix and frosted them using light pink Strawberry frosting.   The kids started with the Dora hair that I made out of melted chocolate using the template that is part of the NickJr. instructions.  Then, they piped on white Betty Crocker cookie frosting (in a tube) for the outer part of the eyes.  The inner part is a chocolate chip.  We then used a black gel frosting pen to make the nose.  The mouth is the corner of a Target Archer Farms Strawberry Fruit Strip. 

Dora Cupcakes

WHA-LA!  Dora Cupcakes!

Dora Cupcakes

 Even my husband wanted in on the action!  Look at his focus!

Making Dora Cupcakes Takes FOCUS!

There are so many uses for these cupcakes – birthday party activity, birthday party dessert, play date activity, play date snack, girls get together activity, rainy day fun!

Now if only NickJr. would put out a Diego hair template.  Hmmmm….let me get out my art pens!