Dinosaur Party Games - by a Professional Party Planner (2024)

DINOSAUR Party Games

Below are some ideas for dinosaur party games and activities for kids of all ages— perfect for a dinosaur themed birthday party. If you'd like more birthday ideas including suggestions for party invitations, food and drink, and decorations, see my Dinosaur Party Ideas page.

Dinosaur Dig

If you have a sand pit, bury some bones in advance. You could use this dinosaur bones mold (below left, from supplier 3) and fill with plaster, or just these these cheap dinosaur skeleton toys (below right from supplier 5).

The great thing about the mold is that it's actually meant for use in a sand pit so you can also create these great dinosaur impressions (below) in the sand too, which look really impressive.

When you start your dinosaur party games, give the kids plastic hand shovels and paint brushes to excavate the dinosaur bones. As soon as they touch a bone with their hand shovel they then have to use the paintbrush to smooth away the sand in order to excavate it delicately.

If you don't have a sand pit just burry them in buckets of sand. Just don't forget to make a note of how many you buried so you know when they've all been found.

Dinosaur Egg and Spoon Race

Turn a classic party game into one of your dinosaur party games. Make a couple of pairs of these dinosaur feet using tissue boxes (below, from Family Fun) and have the kids run dinosaur egg and spoon races in them to slow them down.

Hunt the Dinosaur Egg

No dinosaur party games would be complete without a dinosaur egg hunt. Check out this great tutorial that shows you how to make amazing dinosaur eggs by painting mini watermelons (below, by Debbie at Wants and Wishes).

Once you've made them hide them around the garden and play hunt the dinosaur egg. For younger kids take a photo of the egg before hiding it and have each child look for a different colored one by showing them the photo of it.

For a quick and easy alternative, just hide these plastic eggs with dinosaurs inside (from supplier 1) around your house and garden for the kids to find.

Create Your Own Fossils

Make your own fossils (below, by Preschool Rock) ahead of the party by following this step by step guide, then hide them all around the party for the kids to find. Have a competition to see who can find the most with a special prize for the winner. Even if they don't win, the kids will love cracking them open to find the dinosaurs inside.

If you want to make this a little more educational and authentic to teach the kids about paleontology, you can pick up a fossil kit like this one below from supplier 2, which contains dinosaur bones to be excavated (rather than using plastic dinosaurs like the ones above).

Cave Painting

Print off illustrations of different dinosaurs from the internet ahead of the party. On the day hang a roll of brown butcher's paper on the wall and draw some prehistoric scenery on it, i.e. rocks, palm trees, volcanoes etc. Then have each child color in one of the dinosaur illustrations and arrange it on the 'cave wall'. Do this in a garden shed or a room where you can dim the lights and have them use a lantern to simulate being in a cave. Add some of these glow in the dark dinosaur stickers (see supplier 3) to the scene too - kid's love anything that glows.

Pin the Head on the Dinosaur

This variation of 'Pin the Tail On' (see supplier 3) includes the game poster, blindfold and 12 dinosaur heads so the kid's can play Pin the Head on the Dinosaur.

Whiplash

Check out this tutorial by Jessica from Running with Scissors for how to make these cute tie-on dinosaur tails. Arrange a number of dinosaur themed props of different weights (inflatable dinosaur, dinosaur egg, palm tree etc.) on a plank of wood propped up at each end on a few books. Then have the kids take turns to wear the tail and see how many of the objects they can knock off the plank in 30 seconds while blindfolded and whipping the tail at them—no hands allowed.

Update: You can now buy dinosaur tails similar to the ones above, see below, from supplier 4.

Dinosaur Photo-Op

There are some cute dinosaur costumes available from supplier 1. If you pick up one you could set up a little photo area at the party for each child to take turns dressing up in the dinosaur costume to have their picture taken. Have them peeking out from behind two tall plants or the bushes in your garden. You could print the photos off and let them take them home—or send them out with your thank you cards.

Alternatively, you could use this dinosaur themed stand-in prop from supplier 2 or these cute photo booth props from supplier 4.

Make a Dinosaur Sock Puppet

For younger kids, get them to make these simple dinosaur sock puppets (see video below).

Make an Origami snapping Dinosaur

For older kids, try making this origami dinosaur (see video below).

Dinosaur Crafts & activities

Coloring is a simple activity that's perfect to keep kid's occupied at the beginning of the party while waiting for everyone to arrive. These miniature dinosaur coloring books (below left) are a great budget option at $1.99 for 12, alternatively you could use this color your own dinosaur (below center) or these cute color your own sun catchers (below right). See supplier 3 for these.

Similarly, these foam dinosaur craft activities (below left) or these 'dress up your dinosaur' sticker sheets (below right) are cheap and easy activities which could also be a handy addition to your dinosaur party games if it's a rainy day. See supplier 3.

Dinosaur Tattoos & Face Paints

Kid's love tattoos and stickers, so hand out some of these during your dinosaur party games. You can also use this simple dinosaur face painting stamp kit. See suppliers 1 or 6.

Dinosaur Pinata

There are lots of different dinosaur pinatas from supplier 1 and 2, including 'cute' ones suitable for younger children, which always go down well at a party.

Dinosaur Party Games

There are also some dinosaur themed games that are quite cheap from supplier 3, such as these Dinosaur Train games below.

DINOSAUR Party Ideas

For more party ideas to go with these dinosaur party games, check out my main dinosaur page.

Matt James is a professional event planner and owner of event agency Left Field Productions, which has produced events for Elton John, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kevin Spacey, Stella McCartney, David LaChapelle, John Waters, and Elvis Costello & Diana Krall. Since 2004, Left Field Productions has won 30 industry awards for excellence including Production Company of the Year.