We've sailed through space and landed squarely on Earth and we're completely surrounded by dinosaurs! Our PreK has begun the Dino unit and the tiny humans are just as excited to be learning about the beasts that once roamed the planet as they were the planets themselves. I have a couple of weeks to bring out some dino-related projects and recipes. This is one mini project that accompanies a clay lesson.

Sometimes my lessons for the PreK are short either due to material or age. Our dinosaur clay project, that I'll post about another time, is a simple but very short project. Normally my tiny humans whiz through it in 15 minutes, including discussion and demo, and I'm left with 45 minutes of free time. Now this isn't all bad but I've been trying to come up with something to help fill the gap and make class a bit more worthwhile. Enter Dino eggs!

Here's what you'll need:
- dino toys
- bag of dirt
- bag of play sand
- bag of flour
- salt
- water
- mixing bowl and rubber scraper
- cookie sheets or something plastic to hold the drying product
- sandwich bags
- popsicle sticks

I found this dino egg post through a Google image search. I read through the post and thought, "YES! This is exactly what I should do!" She gives a recipe for the makeshift dough but I found that it was way too little to serve my 20 kids/class. I ended up just winging it and mixing in quantity order: dirt, sand, flour, salt, water.

As you can see, this is a messy process. I set up on the edge of a counter since all my tables were in use. The consistency of the dirt clay is similar to thick brownie mix. I just kept adding ingredients until I could pick it up in my hands, form it, and it would hold its shape.

This was hilarious. Have you noticed the trend of tiny humans not wanting to get dirty? I certainly have. This particular tiny human said, "This is disgusting!" I laughed out loud. He still managed to form a really nice lump of dirt clay around the dino. Way to overcome an obstacle little guy.

The dino eggs were lined up to dry on the cookie sheets. I think two days, even with our cold weather, would be plenty of drying time. However, I decided that sending these home on the day that Valentine's was celebrated was the worst possible idea. So, I let them sit the weekend. They will turn a lighter shade of poo. Yeah, I said it. Everyone said it! It looks like a cow patty. No. Shame. Which leads me to my last step.

You've GOT to make a note to stick in with the egg so that when it goes home parents won't twist their faces in disgust and throw these beauties in the garbage. The dino eggs were placed in a sandwich bag with a popsicle stick and a colorful (read: unavoidable) note. Our kiddos had a snow day the following day and it turned out to be the perfect activity. I may have used too much flour because they were tough to crack, but it was fun! It made my day, and maybe yours too! Happy digging!

Dino Egg mini project