Roaringly Fun DIY Paper Dinosaur Crafts for Kids

Boy or girl…little kids or older children…kids of all ages absolutely LOVE dinosaur crafts. There are just so many possibilities and room for imagination. These dino crafts are no exception. You’ll start making these adorable dinosaurs using the free printable template but then add your own flair.

Not only will making these easy dinosaur crafts lead to hours of preshistoric fun for your little paleontologists, but they’re also a great way to practice fine motor skills. Use them as they are or combine them with more plastic dinosaurs for a dramatic play experience. I bet your have lots of fun ideas in mind already.

I bet you’ve never heard of craft flashcards…Of course you haven’t…because I totally made it up 🙂 As a pediatric Occupational Therapist, I’ve witnessed kids struggle to complete multi-step activities. So, I came up with this brilliant (if I do say myself) way to break down crafts into bite-sized pieces in the form of flashcards.

These are especially perfect for those kiddos who have limited attention spans.

Crafts are such a great developmental tool for kids (improves motor planning, attention span, executive functioning, fine motor skills, language development and more), and using flashcards makes planning crafts for your kids to enjoy even easier.

Just print out a few of your favorites onto cardstock, cut them into the cards with a hole in the corner and place them on a keyring that you can connect to your craft supply bag (which you can fill using our master list of supplies that we stick to for every single one of the projects in the flashcard collection). It’s so simple.

And the best part is that there’s not a screen in sight. Technology is such a great thing, but it’s also nice to take a break from it once in awhile and let the brain explore in other ways. Click the image to learn more about our collection of 100 Craft Flashcards for Kids.

Fun Facts About Dinosaurs

• Dinosaurs became extinct 65.5 million years ago.
• The first dinosaur to be named was Megalosaurus.
• Scientists who study dinosaurs are called Paleontologists.
• The first dinosaur fossils were discovered in the 1800’s.
• Scientists believe that birds descended from dinosaurs.
• Dinosaurs and humans did not live on the Earth at the same time.

For more interesting dino facts, check out this article from We Are Teachers.

Save these awesome dinosaur crafts for later. Pin them to your favorite Pinterest board…

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Dino Crafts Instructions

These step-by-step instructions will take you through making the Stegosaurus craft, but each of the dinosaurs go together the same way. This fun craft goes together rather quickly but is not necessarily a simple craft since there are several steps. You can choose to make them different colors or all the same.

SIMPLE SUPPLIES FROM THE BAG

• Construction paper
• Scissors
• Markers
• Glue stick
• Googly eyes (optional)
• Single hole punch
• Yarn
• Dinosaur templates

We keep crafting with your kids simple so that you do more of it. And we do that by sticking to a basic master list of supplies that we use for every single creative project you see here.

These supplies create the perfect dinosaur craft but are also lead to loads of other great ideas. Keeping it simple doesn’t mean giving up on imagination and creativity. It just means that you won’t need to spend hours prepping to make crafts with your kids. Just fill your bag once and you’re ready to go!

Step 1-Use the Dinosaur Template

• Choose a dinosaur shape, download the template and print it out. You can choose to print onto regular printer paper or directly onto construction paper.
• Then grab some construction paper in colors of your choice.
• Use the printable craft template to cut out all the parts for your simple dinosaur craft.

*You’ll notice that there are 2 shapes for the bodies of your dinos to choose from. Here are the shapes that we chose for each of the dinosaurs in this collection:

Circle body shape

• Stegosaurus
• Pterodactyl
• Brachiosaurus
• Triceratops

Oval body shape

• T-Rex (oval placed vertically)
• Plesiousaur (oval placed horizontally)

Step 2-Fold

• Take the circle (or ovals) that you cut out for the body of your and fold each of them in half.
• Create a crisp crease by sliding a pencil or back of the scissors over the fold.
• Each piece should be identical.

Step 3-Begin Assembly of Your Fun Project

• Take 3 of the folded circles/ovals and glue them together, stacked on top of each other, using your glue stick.
• Repeat this process with the other 3 circles/ovals.

*DO NOT glue these 2 sections together just yet. We’ll do that in a later step.

Step 4-Continue Assembly

• Take one of the circle sections that you have glue together.
• Add the cut out parts of your dinosaur to the back of the circle segment using your glue stick.

Step 5-Add Some Details to Your Dino Craft

• Before finishing assembly, get our your markers (or crayons) and decorate your fantastic dinosaur craft any way you would like.
• Finish off his face by adding a googly eye or drawing on an eye.

Step 6-Put It Together

• Complete the circle body of your dinosaur by gluing the other half circle into place using your glue stick.
• Basically you have just made a dinosaur sandwich with 3 circles on one side and 3 on the other side of the main cut out parts of your dinosaur craft.

Step 7 (Optional)-Give It a Hanger

• Add a hanger to this already perfect dinosaur craft by punching a hole in the center at the top.
• Then cut a length of yarn about a foot long.
• Lace it through the hole and tie it off to form a hanger.

List of Dinosaur Crafts in This Collection

• Pterodactyl
• Plesiousaur
• T-Rex
• Triceratops
• Brachiosaurus
• Stegosaurus

How to Turn This Craft Into Christmas Ornaments

These paper dinosaur crafts are perfect as is and can lead to hours of pretend play just as they are, but you can also take them a step further for the holidays. Have you ever used dinosaurs as Christmas decorations? They already have a hanger, which makes them perfect for putting on a Christmas tree, a garland or wreath.

To turn this simple dinosaur craft into a Christmas decoration just add a little more holiday cheer by using lots of green and red. Cut out little Christmas hats for each paper dinosaur. You can even add a little cotton for the fringe. Though these aren’t in our craft bag, you can also add gold star stickers and glitter to elevate this simple craft to holiday status.

Ways to Adapt This Craft for Young Children

This craft is a little more advanced, but I’d hate for any of our dinosaur lovers to miss out. To modify these DIY projects, simply precut the the pieces for your dino craft. You may also need to help with folding the circles/ovals so that the fold is in the center.

The key is to only do as much for your child as is absolutely necessary. Let them be as independent as possible. Even if it may be a slight struggle, let them give it a try before jumping to the rescue. Preschool children are going to love this craft but will need a little extra assistance to complete it successfully.

Dinosaur activities ideas to combine with crafting…

And now for the best part. Making the craft is only half the fun really. Combine this crafting experience with even more fun activities for your little dinosaur fan. There are so many options for hours of imaginative play.

Make a snack together like these fossil cookies. Baking is a fun way to practice skills like follow directions, problem solving, and simple math (to name a few)…and it’s just yummy! Putting on a little play with your new crafts is the perfect dinosaur activity. This is a creative way to teach social skills, executive functioning and so much more. Getting a good dinosaur book from the library, like these, is the perfect way to promote a love for reading.

Make even more Fun Dinosaur Crafts

Long Neck Dino Crafts

Popsicle Stick Dinosaur Crafts

Dinosaur Coloring Pages

Save these Dinosaur Activities for later. Pin them to your favorite Pinterest board…