Dinosaur Treasure Hunt for Toddlers

Do you have a toddler that loves dinosaurs? Then, you will love this dinosaur treasure hunt. Even the youngest dinosaur hunters can play. Plus they’ll be working on lots of skills in the process. Our dinosaurs were sent to us by Learning Resources. I get commissions for purchases made through the affiliate links in this post.

We love treasure hunts and scavenger hunts! This treasure hunt is very similar to our Farm Animal Treasure Hunt for Toddlers. This time we’re using dinosaurs, which just so happens to be one of my toddler’s favorite things.

There are two ways you can play. With younger toddlers, you can hide the dinosaurs in plain sight (in the middle of the floor, on a table at their eye level, etc). For older toddlers, you can hide them under things, behind things, or even inside things. We did a combination of these for Elon (22 months).

This is a perfect game for siblings to play together. In the fact the game was inspired by How to Grow a Dinosaur that was sent to us for review. (Read more about the book below.) Lily (almost 4) had so much fun hiding the dinosaurs for her little brother. I first modeled how to play by hiding 5 dinosaurs around the room. We used 3 baby dinosaurs from the Jumbo Dinosaurs: Mommas and Babies set and 2 dinosaurs from the Jumbo Dinosaurs 2 set Learning Resources sent us a while back. (Also check out this collection of dinosaur activities for kids.)

For the first round, I hid all of the dinosaurs in easy to find places.

I asked Elon if he could find the dinosaurs. “Do you see a dinosaur? Where are the dinosaurs? Can you go get the dinosaur?” Lily spotted many of them before Elon did, so she helped him find them.

After Elon and Lily found all of the dinosaurs, Lily wanted a turn hiding them. (She calls the game hide and seek with dinosaurs.) Elon and I went out of the room while she hid them. We counted to 5 and said ready or not here we come!

Sometimes Lily would hide the dinosaurs under the bed, so Elon checked there every time we played.

Next, it was Lily’s turn to find the dinosaurs. I helped Elon hide them around the room. He tried to put them all in the same places that he found them in. I made the hiding places a little more difficult for Lily.

Do you see the dinosaur behind the curtain?

We continued hiding and finding dinosaurs until it was time for Elon’s nap. This dinosaur treasure hunt was a great way to get the kids moving and burn off some energy before nap time, too!

Such a fun way to practice communication skills, vocabulary, and beginning observation skills plus cooperation and movement!

Watch the video to see some of their dinosaur treasure hunt.

How to Grow a Dinosaur by Jill Esbaum

How to Grow a Dinosaur (sent to us for review) is an adorable book for big brothers or sisters. “Good news! Your mama’s hatching a baby! Bad news! Babies take their sweet time!” When they finally hatch, there’s more bad news: “Babies are too little to play.” The book talks big brother dinosaur through all of the things that babies do including reason why they might cry and how they will be copycats. It ends with a message to big brother saying how baby wants to be just like him.

My kids think this book is hilarious because of all of the things the dinosaur kids do together. It does a sweet job of showing the developing bond between siblings. I’m always looking for ways to help my kids connect with each other. This book paired with the dinosaur treasure hunt does just that.

More Treasure Hunts for Kids

Check out our huge collection of scavenger hunts and treasure hunts for kids! There are Ideas for a variety of ages from toddlers on up.

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