A Dinosaur Birthday Party

Dinosaur Party Games and Activities

Dinosaur Bone Bowling -- To make this dinosaur party game, cover 10 empty pop cans with white paper and draw a bone on each. Set them out at the end of a hallway like bowling pins and have children take turns rolling a ball into the cans to see how many they can knock down. After they have their turn, have them reset the cans for the next bowler.

Dinosaur Egg Stomp – Have each child tie one balloon to their ankle with a piece of string. This is their dinosaur egg and they must protect it at all costs. The object of the game is to try to stomp and break everyone else’s balloon while protecting yours. When your balloon pops, you are out. The last person with a full balloon wins. (You might consider having extra balloons ready for a second round of this game).

Egg of Extinction – Play a traditional game of hot potato using a plastic "dinosaur" egg. Have the children sit in a circle and turn on some music (you might consider using the song "Walk the Dinosaur" by Was not Was). Without looking, stop the music. When the music stops, whoever is holding the egg is now extinct, and must leave the circle. Continue until there is one child left. If you choose to play again, that child can be in charge of controlling the music. (Another fun variation for this is to use a large dog bone instead of an egg.)

Nesting Grounds Relay Race – Divide the children into two teams. Let each team pick out their dinosaur name, such as the Triceratops versus the T-Rexes. Line the teams up at one end of a hallway. In the middle of the hallway, tape a black plastic garbage bag. (This is the deadly tar pit). At the other end of the hallway, place the two big garbage sacks full of “dinosaur eggs” (Balloons filled with squishy dinosaurs). On “Go” the first child in each line races down the hall, jumping over the deadly tar pit, to the nesting ground full of eggs. He/she must hatch an egg by bouncing on it or stomping it, and retrieve the baby dinosaur inside. He then races back with his baby dinosaur, touches the hand of the next teammate, and that person is off to the nesting ground. The first team with all members sitting with their hatched dinosaurs wins.

Disappearing Dinos – This is a game of reverse hide-and-seek. One person is chosen to be “it”. This person hides while the others count. Then everyone sets out to find the disappearing dinosaur. If they find him, they must silently hide with him, trying not to let the others know where they are. One by one, more dinosaurs “disappear”, joining the first hider. The last person still seeking the dinosaurs can become the starting dino in the next game.

Dinosaur Birthday Party Menu Ideas

• Use a bone or dinosaur shaped cookie cutter to design some fun sandwiches.

• Put out bowls with dinosaur shaped fruit snacks.

• Freeze plastic dinosaurs into ice cubes and put them into some prehistoric fruit punch.

• Hide bone shaped candy or gummy dinosaurs in chocolate pudding in clear plastic cups. Then top the pudding with crushed Oreo cookies and have the children dig in!

• Design Dinosaur Egg Cupcakes simply by frosting them in a solid color and then decorating with complementary colored dots to look like eggs!

Dinosaur Birthday Party Favors

• Straw Pith Helmets (every good paleontologist needs one)

• Magnifying Glasses (good for excavations)

• Stuffed or Plastic Dinosaurs (can be cute or realistic depending on your crowd)

• Dinosaur Egg Candy (Speckled Malt Balls)

• Any Dinosaur Related Items -- There are MANY out there!

Hope you found some useful party ideas on this page. We hope your next dinosaur birthday party is a blast from the past!

If you enjoyed these dinosaur party ideas, you might also enjoy these parties:

Dragon Party

Monster Party

Superhero Party