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 These
little dinosaurs are easy to make and lots of fun to play with,
especially when you plant them a grassy, green environment of
their very own. At the Bockler house, Mom Tracy says she "will
probably have herds of dinosaurs very soon" based on the
level of enthusiasm shown by her son, Christian (7 1/2). The LaClair
family reported planting grass on a Saturday and having it sprout
by Wednesday. All three children agreed the "the dinosaurs
look really cool in the grass."
To make each dinosaur, here's
what you need:
- Pipe cleaners
- Yarn
- Tiny wiggle eyes
- Scissors
- White glue
Here's what you do:
- Make a basic dinosaur body from
a pipe cleaner by cutting a 5-inch piece for the body and two
3-inch pieces for the legs. Bend one end of the 5-inch pipe
cleaner into a head and neck, and bend the other end into a
tail. How you shape and bend them will depend on the type of
dinosaur you are making.
- Wrap one leg piece around the
body at the base of the neck so that the two ends bend down
on each side to form the legs. Wrap the second leg piece around
the body at the top of the tail and bend the two ends down to
form the back legs.
- Wrap the dinosaur with yarn,
wrapping more yarn layers where you wish the dinosaur to be
wider. You can choose to wrap part of the dinosaur or all of
it.
- Tie off the end of the yarn when
you are done wrapping.
- Dab some white glue wherever
the yarn is near the end of the pipe cleaner to keep it from
slipping off.
- Glue two tiny wiggle eyes to
the head of the dinosaur.
 I
made two of my dinosaurs in my favorite color, green. Nobody knows
what color the dinosaurs really were so please choose one of your
favorite colors for your dinosaur. At the Mayfield household,
Kyle (5) made a dinosaur that started out green "but also
had some black and blue mixed in" while sister Addison (7)
"stayed in the yellow, pink tones".
To make the dish garden, you'll
need:
- Pie tin or other shallow container
- Stones
- Potting soil
- Grass seed
- Water
- White glue
 Here's
what you do:
- Make an environment for the dinosaurs
by planting some grass seed in a pie tin. Add a few stones first
for drainage before filling the pan with potting soil. Sprinkle
the dirt with grass seed and then water.
- Make
a cave on the edge of the dirt by gluing some small stones together.
- Stand the dinosaurs in the dirt
and place the pan in a sunny place.
Web sources: For more dinosaur
fun go to www.kathyross.com
and go into books, then the "Wild about" series. Click
your mouse on the cover of Crafts for Kids Who Are Wild About
Dinosaurs to find a fossils craft. www.ZoomDinosaurs.com
has lots of printouts, crafts, activities and links, all relating
to dinosaurs.
TAKE IT FROM ME
The Krabacher family did not have any pipe cleaners so they tried
this idea using floral wire. "Abby (6) loved making the dinosaurs
and understood the directions well. Matt (4) had trouble wrapping
the dinosaur but happily let Abby do the hard parts." While
the florist wire resulted in neat dinosaurs they found that wire
made it too easy for the yarn to slip off the ends and unravel,
even after it had been glued. "Abby is so afraid they will
fall apart she just lets them sit on the shelf. We will probably
be making more of these, knowing Abby."
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