Dinosaur Bath Starts in the Kitchen

T-Rex and Stegosaurus getting fresh and clean

Mostly, we use our kitchen for cooking.  But sometimes we have a project or craft that requires some kitchen tools, like the day we decided to do a Dinosaur Bath.

I was cruising Pinterest the other night and stumbled upon a mommy blogger who shares the sensory activities she enjoys with her kiddos. Her website, Growing a Jeweled Rose , details all kinds of messy fun she creates, using household items like shaving cream and food dye.  I had heard about sensory play from another website I follow, Adventures with Little Bear, so I'd already been intrigued by the possibilities of these kinds of activities with my own children (my understanding is that they encourage the child to use all of his senses to explore).

After seeing a post on a "Princess Bath", complete with pink water and flowers, I thought it would be fun to set up a Dinosaur Bath for the boys.  The Bigger One has been studying dinosaurs in preschool and he has lots to say about the information he's learning.  We would clear out all of the regular bath toys and replace them with tiny and big dinosaurs.  I think I was more excited than they were, honestly.

The morning of the Big Day we made dinosaur soaps by trapping some of our tiny friends in melted glycerine soap I'd purchased from A.C. Moore.  The boys helped stir in their favorite colors and some soap glitter.  We added a few drops of peppermint fragrance.  Then they plopped in the dinos and we let them set for a while.  They were far from the professional kinds they sell but it did make me think they would be a perfect little birthday gift for friends (swapping the dinos for farm animals or other little toys based on the child's interests).  

The glycerine cubes can be melted in the microwave

Our supplies...we had most on hand because we've made holiday soaps before

Mixing the melted soap with soap colors and sparkles

Dino friends trapped in soap

Later that night, the boys wanted to take their bath, put on PJs, and then eat dinner.  It's always so fun to change the routine a little bit, especially on a Friday night when the schedule is more relaxed.  As they got undressed, I set up the tub by dying the water with green food dye (I'll have to try a natural dye for next time) and dropping in their sparkly (and slippery!) dino soaps.  The LOs were in charge of adding our dino friends.

The dinos poked out a bit from the soap

This one was a cool combination of blue, green, and yellow

(Nerd admission: I read a poem about dinosaurs to them while they were in the tub, because I thought it would be fun.  Please don't laugh.)

After they had dried off and dressed, I brought them back into the bathroom for some good, old-fashioned volcano action.  We used baking soda, water, vinegar, and red food dye to make our "volcano" erupt; doing it in the tub ensured that the mess was kept to a minimum, although we ended up with a little dye on our hands.  The boys helped by pouring the dye and vinegar.

Adding vinegar to the baking soda/water/red dye mixture

Our cute little volcano erupts on Dinosaur Island

It was a really unique way to start off our weekend and possibly nurture their already wild imaginations.   I'll definitely need to think up some other fun bathtub themes and experiments so we can shake up our normal routine now and then.  Additional benefits: the dinosaur soaps left behind a pretty sparkle and I've convinced myself that the baking soda and vinegar helped give the tub a nice cleaning.

What are some fun projects your family does that require kitchen tools or ingredients?  Share below!

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