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Jurassic Adventure
Dinosaur Theme party ideas

by Kelli Zaremba
(East Peoria IL USA)

JURASSIC ADVENTURE - Scavenger Hunt – Kids party Ages 4-7

Jurrasic Adventure Party ~ DECORATION:
I kept it simple. I drew dinosaur tracks on the drive way and sidewalk with chalk and cut out prints of paper and taped them to the floor in the house. I used light and dark green streamers in the doorways of the house to imitate vines of vegetation growing.

Jurassic Adventure Party ~ FOOD:
We served trail mix “just in case we needed to find our way back from our adventure” and had swamp water punch (green punch) for our drink along with cake. My cake was a homemade sheet cake with dinos on it. I placed a cupcake on top of the sheet cake and frosted it to make a volcano. There were also plastic dinosaurs on the cake as well.

Jurassic Adventure Party ~GAMES AND ACTIVITIES

Ahead of time I prepare items for the outside tour/hunt. Since this is for younger kids I guided them. This was for my son’s 5th birthday party. I prepared the following:
• Spider Web Obstacle – You will need several bright colored skeins of yarn and a few trees or you can also use a play structure Tie one end of the yarn to a tree or post. Pass the skeins crisscrossing the "web" every which way around the tree trunks or posts securing the ends of each skein by tying them off. During the tour the kids will have to climb through the spider web creation. To clean up, pass out scissors and cut the web to pieces. Collect the scraps in a garbage bag for string games, finger knitting, or art projects.


• Dino Fossils made with Coffee Ground Dough - Mix together 1 cup used coffee grounds, 1/2 cup cold coffee, 1 cup flour and 1/2 cup salt. The dough will be grainy in texture. Knead and flatten it out for cutting. If you want to make decorations from your fossils, you can use different shapes of cookie cutters to give them a bit of flare. This type of fossil dough is good for impressions of heavier objects, such as small branches and rocks. I made many bones and fossils in advance for the hunt during the dig in Fossil Valley.


• Pterodactyl Flyers – I purchased pterodactyl flyers from Oriental Trading Company assembled them in advance and hung them from the pine tree in the far corner of the yard. We pretended that they had built a nest that they were guarding and the kids each got to take one home with them as a pet. In the nest was an egg that had a bouncy ball with a dino in it, also purchased from Oriental Trading Company. These were the kids take home prizes.


• Mentos Volcano Eruption – Several packages of Mentos mints and several 2 liters of cola soda drink. A Gyser Tube is optional but a really big help and worth the extra few bucks. Here is a link to a science experiment web page to describe what happens when Mentos and Cola mix… http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/experiments/dietcokementos.html

Guests arrived. We snacked for a few minutes and went right into the tour. We started on the side of the house. We worked through the web and on to Fossil Valley. The kids each found a fossil or two in a small kiddie pool full of sand and my coffee grounds dough fossils and we hiked over to see the pterodactyls and take home our very own dino egg. Finally, when the earth rumbled out in the front yard (my husband had prepared the eruption while we were touring around the side and back) we rushed to the front to the see a paper mache’ volcano erupt with coke 20 feet into the air. It was so cool we had to see it 3 or 4 more times.

Then we proceeded inside to have cake and presents.

TOUR GUIDE VERBIAGE:
All you kids want to go on a Jurassic adventure? Let’s get going. There may be some danger ahead? And I’m sure there will be lots of excitement. Are you ready?

Do you think dinosaurs are still alive? What did they look like? Do you think they were good climbers?

Well we gotta climb through this prehistoric spider web to keep going. Let’s get to it. Wow you guys did great. I bet the dinosaurs were not that fast.

The next stop on our trip is Fossil Valley! Do you know what fossils are? A paleontologist is a person who digs for dino bones that that been pressurized over thousands of years into the earth. Why don’t you guys see what you can dig up in fossil valley? Did everyone find something? That is amazing!

Does anyone know what a flying dinosaur was called? Pterodactyl – Their wings could be up to 40 feet long… Those are really big wings. Maybe we could find a pterodactyl nest. Where do you think they would build their nest? What is it made out of? I see a really big nest over there! What is in it?

Oh MY, Dino EGGS. – I knew we would find something really cool. BUT WAIT…

Did you guys feel that? I think I just felt the earth shake. I think something’s happening in the front. Let’s go check it out.

WHOA, it’s an erupting volcano! Some people believe that volcanoes made the dinosaurs become extinct. Watch out that lava can sure shoot out! Let’s see it AGAIN!

Well that was a really cool adventure. Thanks for going with me. You guys are really great paleontologists. I hope you had fun. Let’s go have some cake!