She's Crafty

Paper Plate Dinosaurs

Have I mentioned how much my 4-year old LOVES Dinosaurs?  Seriously, this kid breathes dinosaurs 24/7. Sometimes I wonder if he is really a Tyrannosaurus Rex reincarnated as a little boy. His love for dinosaurs goes beyond just playing with the billions of plastic prehistoric creatures we have laying around the house, but he also creates his own dinosaurs with random things he is playing with. Like his crayon dinosaur pictured below.


And this magnet dinosaur he made on the fridge with the letter magnets.


And he is even really skilled in making dinosaurs out of his blocks. Those teeth are killer right?! I seriously don't hoax him into this, he does it all on his own.


So in honor of my cute Luke we made paper plate dinosaurs yesterday. Here he is holding his dinosaur this morning while still in pajamas eating his bowl of cereal. He slept with this cute creature last night believe it or not.


Andy didn't sleep with his but I made him hold it so I could take a picture of him too. haha Yes, I'm a crazy photo Mother.  :)


They love to line them up on the stairs so that I almost trip walking over them going up and down. They even bring down some of their plastic dinos to interact with the paper plate ones.


Here's a close up of the dinosaurs. This is Luke's Stegosaurus.


Of course I couldn't resist making one myself because I'm cool like that, so here is my Brontosaurus.


Andy's Stegosaurus.


What makes these so cool is that they are put together with brads so the legs, tail and head are all movable.


This is not the first time we've made these dinos. It's probably about the 6th time. We even made them for my boys Dinosaur Birthday Party in January and it was a hit with all the kids who were at the party. I just had the kids color a paper plate with markers while we were waiting for everyone to get here and some Mom's helped me put them together at the end of the party.

Want to know how to make these fabulous creatures?? I wish I could take all the credit, but sadly I cannot. I learned how to make these from Kids Craft Weekly and luckily, they have a FREE TUTORIAL that you can use. The only difference in my dinosaurs is that I added a wiggly eye on the face, and cut a slit open for the mouth. My kids requested these changes and I love their ideas.


This craft can also be paired with some super cool dinosaur books. We read them on a daily basis at our house but here some of our favorites.

This isn't one of our favorites, but we happened to read it last night since Luke picked it out at the Library. "The Magic School Bus Flies with the Dinosaurs" It explains how some birds came from dinosaurs.

 WE LOVE all of the "How Do Dinosaurs" series by Jane Yolen & Mark Teague. We actually own several of them and they have been really helpful in teaching my kids not to play with their food & to try everything on their plate, how to be helpful in cleaning up their bedroom, and lately for Luke, how to SHARE with friends. I highly recommend these stories if your preschooler loves dinosaurs.

Luke's personal favorites is "Oh say can you say Di-no-saur?" Dr. Suess book by Bonnie Worth. It's a fun book that teaches you some of the names and facts about common dinosaurs.

If you make your own paper plate dinosaurs, I'd love to hear about it.

I'm Linking up to THESE wonderful Parties.

Happy Prehistoric Crafting!!

PS-I am subscribed to Kids Craft Weekly Newsletters but I haven't received any for about a year. So I don't think she isn't doing it anymore. Just thought I'd let you know if you decide to sign up and nothing comes in your email.