Storybook Summer post by Cerys of Rainy Day Mum
We’ve recently potty trained and underpants and books featuring them have become a big favourite in our house with one of them being Dinosaurs love Underpants by Claire Freedman and Ben Cox. As for most toddlers J is fascinated by Dinosaurs and this book gives a funny and humourus look at why Dinosaurs became extinct many years ago – The Great Pants Tug of War. You see “It all began when cavemen felt embarassed in the nude – so someone dreamt up underpants to stop them feeling rude” and from then on there is a lot of great rhymes with many dinosaurs (some of who I have a lot of fun voicing and even trying to pronounce the names) and their underpants.
Dinosaurs Love Underpants with Rainy Day Mum
As at the start of the book there is a double page spread of fossil dinosaurs – I decided to make some “fossil dinosaurs” – well Salt Dough – to go with the book that J, T and their cousin could have fun making, decorating and then keeping in their dinosaur collection.
Recipe for Salt Dough
1 cup of salt
1 cup of All Purpose Flour
1/2 cup of Water
Mix together and knead into a dough.
We took our salt dough outside as it was glorious day – because we wanted to complete the fossils in a day we started this first thing in the morning – the baking of the dinosaurs took around 2 and a half hours until they were firm to the touch.
Using Sand Pit Moulds, Dinosaur Cookie Cutters and our play dough tools, we flattened, stamped, cut out and had fun creating fossil dinosaurs and foot prints.
Once they were cut out I lined a baking sheet with baking paper and coated it in a small amount of oil to prevent them sticking to it and then placed in the centre of the oven at 100C/200F for 2 and a half hours. This dries out the dough – depending on how thick you make the dinosaurs you may need to extend the time. We then let them cool before setting out a decorating station.
I always use acrylic paints on salt dough as it gives them a shinnier appearance than other paints and doesn’t flake – plus it’s washable which when you have toddlers and preschoolers painting is essential. You can gloss them with some acryllic gloss or White Glue which will give a more lasting finish.
Want more ideas for Dinosaurs? Host a fun Dinosaur Birthday Party with these crafts!
Cerys of Rainy Day Mum is a former teacher and Marine Biologist now a stay at home mom to J (born August 09) and T (March 11).
From the United Kingdom she blogs about fun ideas for Babies, Toddlers and Preschoolers, covering play ideas, cooking, book related activities both indoors and outdoors as well as arts and crafts that everyone can do.
You can find Rainy Day Mum on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and on Pinterest.
Just love all the great ideas on your site. My grand daughter will think I’m a “genius of fun” with all the fun things we’ll be doing together. I especially love the literature tie-ins. And, of course, we’ll be cooking up a storm. You are all the greatest for sharing and making the world a fascinating place for young minds.
Looks like fun! I must caution though, acrylic paints are not considered washable. They’ll wash off hands, but typically will not come out of clothes or very easily off of surfaces once dry. Tempera is washable and it’s what we use in the art classroom for elementary students.
Completly agree – we use acryllics but wearing art aprons and cleaning up very quickly afterwards. When I have used Tempera paints I really recommend that you coat the finished product with White Glue that dries clear – you can also mix it with the paint as this prevents the paint from peeling off the salt dough or sinking into them.