Want a dinosaur-themed party to remember? Or perhaps you want to give your kids a taste of paleontology – from initial discovery to museum display?

I came up with the idea for my daughter’s “Dinosaur Train”-themed birthday party. Fun was definitely the priority. Budget and time were also top considerations. I’ll fill you on some of the more outlandish and involved ideas in another post.

Enter the wooden dinosaur puzzle. Dinosaur bones ready for assembly into a realistic-looking giant reptile.

And how do paleontologists find bones? By digging. I hid the wooden pieces under mulch in the backyard. You might consider sand. Or, with some prep time, you could embed the bones into kinetic sand, some sort of plaster, clay, or Play-Doh. Along with these materials, you can provide tools such as paint brushes, hand shovels, chisels, hammers, or whatever the kids need to feel like a REAL paleontologist.

Here’s how it unfolded at my daughter’s party:

1. BEFORE party – Order wooden dinosaur puzzle. The one I ordered from Amazon uses numbers for each piece to assemble. Mark each piece with number shown on the box. Bury pieces in mulch. I buried all the pieces within the confines of a sandbox-like structure that we already have. Otherwise, the kids could be hunting down bones for days.
2. ANNOUNCEMENT – My husband, sort of dressed like a paleontologist, announces to the party that he’s found a backbone of some sort. He shows everyone. Then, he invites everyone to find more. Think Indiana Jones.

   

3. DIVE, DIVE, DIVE! – The kids dive into the mulch, digging up the remaining bones.
4. ASSEMBLY – Various approaches with different lessons. We placed all the bones on the table and let the kids attempt to assemble without instructions. They learn that forming an animal, especially one that you’ve never seen, ain’t child’s play. Or, you can have the kids give the bones to the party paleontologist who can assemble the pieces. To do this the paleontologist will have to practice beforehand.

And, go ahead, play the theme music from the Indiana Jones or Jurassic Park movies. Have fun!