Jurassic Park Party

A painted poster for the front door welcome.  We also had dinosaur footprints leading up the walkway, on the steps, and inside on the walls and floors.

A vine covered chandelier.

Upon entering the kids saw this cave. Alright, I know it's a little messy but this is an 'after party' picture.  You get the idea.  This big box turned cave was the hit of the party on so many levels.  First the kids loved it because they could make 'cave drawings' and hide inside.   Secondly, I loved it because it was a way to get 13 four year olds in the same place very quickly.  I would just yell "run to the cave before the dinosaurs get you," and they would laugh and yell and run!

Here is the canvas for the party.  It was painted to match the colors I already had.

Quick Tip:  I love using plastic tablecloths for anything.  They are so cheap and super easy to cut.  For this party we folded up the table cloth and cut out vines with leaves.  We used all the material and hung them everywhere for a super cool and inexpensive jungle look.

More cave dwelling!

 We used these blow-up dinosaurs to play Dinosaur Ring Toss.


First, let the kids make their own rings with glow-in-the-dark necklaces.  They love building them and cracking them to make them glow.  

Build

And Toss!

I had this cardboard/wooden frame that came with the big box.  If you are anything like me, when you see something so random you have to figure out a way to use it for something.  

I had ordered some dinosaur airplanes.  The kids got around 6 each and got to build them and throw them through the jungle for 1 point and the volcano for two points.

Painting fun!

We also built this dinosaur on my sons wall.  The bones came in pieces and the kids had fun with the giant stickers.

Check out these cereal box dinosaur feet!  You can find the tutorial here.  They are so cute and so easy.
  

My son really got into the idea of being a dinosaur. After the kids got into two teams, they ran around a volcano while wearing the feet and holding a dinosaur egg on a spoon. It was a super fun relay game.

For another idea...I bought dinosaur grabbers and I spread paper leaves all over the basement.  The kids fed the grabbing dinosaur heads by biting the leaves and running back to a bucket to fill it up.

And then there were the volcanoes...  This was harder than I thought but the kids seemed to really enjoy this activity.

Far in advance I casted these volcanoes out of plaster.  I bought one volcano making kit for the mold and then bought extra plaster to make them.  It was actually kind of fun (I think I was channeling my elementary school science project days), it's just a little time consuming.  I painted them ahead of time and set them on plates. 

We added some sand and little dinosaurs to the bottom of the plates and the kids each got their own little cup to pour into the volcano and make it erupt.

A huge hit with everybody! And the party was a complete dino-riffic success. Now where's my cake?