It seems our April showers missed the memo, and continued on throughout most of May… but we finally got outside this week!  And all the rain not only brought flowers, but lots of weeds.  While I enlisted the girls to help me weed, they quickly decided it was far more fun to go excavating for dinosaurs!

Where did the dinosaurs go ‘stinked?

I’m not sure what it is about dinosaurs that captivates young children.  I remember my little brother nearly 30 years ago, barely speaking in full sentences, yet capable of naming every dinosaur and listing off incredible facts about them all.  My preschooler, Big M, is the same.

[bctt tweet=”Where did dinosaurs go ‘stinked? #totschool #STEAMedu #ece” username=”PGPBMeghan”]

Last week, she asked me “Where did the dinosaurs go ‘stinked?” She had to repeated herself before I understood.  We talked about the dinosaurs we see at the Natural History Museum – how archaeologists discovered their bones in the ground millions of years after the dinosaurs all died.

Excavating Dinosaurs

Despite my husband buying both girls Disney Princess gardening gloves to help me in the yard, they quickly lost interest.  To keep them close by, I decided to expand on our dinosaur conversation by letting them play with their Safari Toob Dinosaurs in the garden beds I was weeding. And of course, they kept the gloves on to keep their hands dirt free.

Big M couldn’t wait to play archaeologist and unearth the extinct dinosaurs. To work on our counting skills (and make sure none of our dinosaurs were left behind), I told them I had buried 12 dinosaurs.  With each one they uncovered, she would stop and count to see how many were still left to excavate!

As she uncovered the last dinosaur, Big M declared, “So that’s where the dinosaurs go ‘stinked!”

ABCs of Outdoor Activities

We are thrilled to represent X for eXcavating in this month’s ABCs of Outdoor Activities hosted by Crafty Kids at Home.  Be sure to check out all the rest of the outdoor play ideas to inspired outdoor fun with your kids all summer long!

With summer finally here, it’s time to take play to the backyard! If you enjoyed this post, you can find all our Outdoor Play ideas here, and countless more on our Outdoor Fun board on Pinterest.