With us being sick for a few weeks, we had to push back our last Baby Book Club but we were glad to finally find a chance to go. We trekked out to visit the HMNS Sugarland and this museum is well worth the drive! It is perfect for younger kids without being too overwhelming.
Do you recognize our binoculars from We’re Going on a Bear Hunt?
This museum has a Dig Pit for ages 3 and up ($5 plus admission), as well as a Dino Pit Jr. ($3 plus admission) for the younger ones, however the younger ones are allowed to go to both. We also learned that if you go with someone who is already a Member, their membership is good for two adults to get in, so I got to get in free! The kids had a blast playing in both areas, and this part was worth it to me!
We love the How Do Dinosaurs… series by Jane Yolen and it was hard to choose just one for our Book Club. I already had How Do Dinosaurs Go to School from my teaching days and we found How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You & How Do Dinosaurs Say I’m Mad at the library which are perfect for reflecting toddlers and their little emotions.
For our craft we made safari hats. I got the inspiration for the hats from this tutorial as well as this one. Once again, we kind of had glue issues because I thought using recyclable plates would save us from having to spray paint them. Fortunately, the dinosaur stickers we used worked great for holding the hats together until the glue dried. We also hole punched the sides to put some string through. Some of the kids really liked wearing their hats through the museum and others (for example, MY kids…) could have cared less!
The museum also has the perfect spot to bring your own lunch with big and little tables. For snacks I was inspired to make these Dino Track Cookies as well as bring some Dinosaur Fruit Snacks. I found the dinosaur and leaves felt stickers at Michaels but I found similar ones here and here and the letter foam stickers I found at The Dollar Tree.
The best part about doing a dinosaur theme is we already had stickers, coloring books and toys that went with our theme. To top that all off, there are so many cute dinosaur theme ideas already, you could probably have a Dinosaur Month with all of the cute crafts and activities. Here are a few of our favorites like this Make Your Own Dinosaur Dig or these Valentine Printables (that we totally used this year, hence all the extra dinos lying around!) We will also be making these Sparkly Paper Plate Dinosaurs in the near future as well as this doing this Dinosaur Sensory Activity Table.
Do you have any favorite books in this series or any other great dinosaur books that you love?
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