Have you ever heard of a dinosaur garden? They’re the dino equivalent of a fairy garden! Planted in a container or right in the garden, these imaginative gardens offer a super fun place to play with toy dinosaurs!
Design your dino garden with plants, rocks, and other fun accessories to create a one-of-a-kind habitat for your dinosaurs to roam. They’re positively prehistoric!
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How to Make a Dinosaur Garden
Materials:
- Large bowl (or planter)
- Plants (leafy plants and succulents)
- Potting soil
- Large rocks and smaller pebbles
- Plastic dinosaurs
Equipment:
- Garden trowel (or something to scoop soil with)
Check Out The Video Tutorial:
Instructions:
Step 1: Find what you need
- Gather your supplies and materials.
Step 2: Add plants to your dinosaur garden
- Find a large bowl or planter with a wide top.
- Remove your plants from the plastic packaging. Add a larger plant to one corner of the garden. (We bought an asparagus fern.)
- Add more plants to the pot. We used a mix of ground cover succulents.
- Scoop potting soil into your container, making sure there's no spaces in-between the plants. Pack the soil down with your hands, leaving about 1 inch between the soil and the top of the planter.
Step 3: Add rocks to the dinosaur garden
- Place a few larger rocks on top of the soil.
- Then fill in any empty spots with a mixture of small pebbles.
Step 4: Add the dinosaurs and enjoy!
- Add some dinosaurs to the container garden you've made. Have fun with creative play.Your dinosaur garden is complete!
Helpful Tips:
- Choose plants with different heights to add some depth to your garden. Put the taller plants at the back, and be sure to leave room for the dinosaurs to play!
- Keep your dinosaur garden outside or place it in a well-lit window.
- Try to add plants that need similar amounts of water.
What type of container works best?
We used a large plastic bowl from the dollar store for our dinosaur garden, but you can really use any kind of container. Try using a window planter, clay pot, or even an old aquarium.
We’ve also seen really fun dinosaur gardens planted in an old tire, a raised garden bed, and in an old sandbox. You could even make one right in your backyard garden!
Do I have to use real plants in my dinosaur garden?
We love the way the real plants look, but you can definitely use faux plants instead. The dollar store has plenty of faux succulents and grasses that would work well in a dinosaur garden.
What features and accessories can I add to my dinosaur garden?
If you have a larger planter you can create little trails for the dinos to explore between the plants. You can also paint a larger stone to look like a volcano, or buy an aquarium accessory.
Use blue aquarium gravel or glass pebbles to create a faux water feature for the dinosaurs to gather around. You can also gather sticks and twigs to create little bridges or shelters for them.
Finally, you can dip one of your dinosaur’s feet in paint and create a path of little footprints on the rocks or along the edge of the pot. So fun!
Where can I buy supplies for my dinosaur garden?
We found our plants in the garden center at Home Depot. You can also look for planters at your local garden center, or even check the dollar store or Walmart.
Use dinosaur toys you already have, or buy inexpensive plastic dinosaurs from the dollar store or Amazon. This garden craft doesn’t have to be expensive!
What plants should I add to my dinosaur garden?
There are plants growing today that existed millions of years ago, which makes it easy to choose greenery that dinosaurs would feel right at home in! Here are a few examples of plants that look great in a dinosaur fairy garden.
- Ferns
- Hostas
- Horsetails
- Moss
- Succulents
- Low growing sedum
You can also make a garden that’s entirely edible to help feed your family as you enjoy your pretend play. Try adding:
- Kale
- Cabbages
- Fennel
- Rosemary
- Spinach
- Basil
- Parsley
- Leaf lettuce
Make your dinosaurs feel at home by creating a dinosaur garden filled with primitive plants that have existed for millions of years! Carve out a patch of your garden or backyard, or make a mini container garden that can grow indoors year-round.
Here’s even more garden craft ideas:
Our book Low-Mess Crafts for Kids is loaded with 72 fun and simple craft ideas for kids! The projects are fun, easy and most importantly low-mess, so the clean up is simple!
Where to buy:
You can purchase Low-Mess Crafts for Kids from Amazon, or wherever books are sold:
Amazon |  Barnes and Noble | Books-A-Million | Indiebound |  Amazon Canada
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