Dinosaur skeleton bones and fossil kits make a great educational toy for kids.
Hands-on learners (like my middle child, who has always loved to touch everything) will especially love digging around making unique discoveries with them.
They can be equally enjoyed for both girls and boys and are just right as a quiet, rainy-day activity.
Another thing that's great about these toys is that they can lead to a lifelong adult hobby. My husband still collects and studies dinosaur fossils and builds dinosaur models, either on his own or with one of our kids.
36-Piece Plastic Dinosaur Fossil Skeletons
36 Piece Dinosaur Fossil Skeletons -- Assorted Figures
** This toy is Amazon's Choice in the category of "Dinosaur Skeleton Toys."
Each of these plastic fossil skeletons is about 4 inches long and includes many styles of dinosaurs, such as pterodactyl, tyrannosaurus, stegosaurus, triceratops, styracosaurus, and spinosaurus.
These are perfect for:
- Party decorations
- Party favor bags
- Creating your own dinosaur dig with a group of kids
12-Piece Plastic Dinosaur Skeleton Toys
Assorted Dinosaur Skeleton Toy Figures (Pack of 12)
This is very similar to the product above, except this pack contains less figures and the figures are slightly smaller (although very detailed).
Reviewers were impressed will both the quality and the amount of "play value" from these pieces, despite their very low price.
Amazon reviewer Bob Webb calls these dino skeletons his "best Amazon purchase":
I have been waiting to write this review as this is the most amazing product that I have bought from amazon yet. I was looking for dinosaur cupcake toppers and eventually found these. These are exactly as described and have multiple uses.
My intentional use of these was for cupcake toppers and then get get tossed into the dinosaur bucket to be played with occasionally. What I didn't realize (and for some unknown reason, really ecstatic about) is that they make excellent dino excavation toys. We buried these in a large pan of flour (sand or a similar material would work as well) and the kids were able to have their own dino dig.These are great.
There were 2 cautions that reviewers had about these skeletons pieces:
- They catch fire very easily and quickly, so be careful if you use it as a birthday cake topper
- They are incredible painful if you happen to step on one
Dinosaur Fossil Excavation Kit
Scientific Explorer My First Dino Kit
With this kit, kids use a brush and chisel to dig dinosaur bones out of a block.
It also includes:
- A glow in the dark dinosaur skeleton
- Safety goggles
- An activity guide of dinosaur facts.
The skeleton model can be glued together with superglue, but the final product would be a display, and not a toy that could be played with.
This is a messy toy, so you might want to consider having your kids work on it outside where things (including the kids!) can be hosed down when you're finished.
Be aware that the bones in this kit are very fragile and that some reviewers commented that they actually broke.
It sounds like this kit requires some careful precision and a little patience, so for that reason I would not recommend it for a four year old like the box suggests, but for kids who are slightly older.
Glow Sticks and Light Up Wands for Disney World
4-Piece Dinosaur Fossil Excavation Kit
ArtCreativity 5 Piece Excavation Kits and 4 Piece Dig Set
As the title suggests, this excavation kit comes with five different pieces and appears to offer a lot more "play value" for a bigger age range than the two toys above.
In addition to the excavation set with tools and bones, it also includes:
- 3-inch growing dinosaur egg that hatches 12-24 hours after you submerge it in water.
- 8-inch dinosaur glider
- Brightly-colored, squishy dinosaur putty which I guess is supposed to represent "primordial ooze." (I know my middle child would be thrilled with this part!)
The great thing about this kit is that there are a variety of activities to choose from.
Amazon reviewer Dawn B., whose kids loved this kit, also offers a couple suggestions:
My 8 year old son and 6 year old daughter absolutely loved this kit. Their two favorite activities were the excavation set and dino fossil set.
These two activities can be pretty messy so I definitely recommend putting some newspaper down because your little one will be chipping away at the chalk that the dinosaur is incased in. The tools that come with the kit were perfect and the kids were able to do the activity without any help. They loved trying to guess what kind of dinosaur they would uncover.
The dinosaur growing kit was a fun activity. The dinosaur hatched in one night but if your child can't wait that long, the egg can be cracked open.
The dinosaur putty was a hit with the kids but is very messy and sticky and the kids needed a good hand washing after playing with it.
Lastly, the dinosaur glider was easy for my son to put together himself and glided well when thrown.
This kit would make a great gift for either a boy or girl.
Smithsonian Plastic T-Rex Plastic Skeleton & Fossil Set
Smithsonian Diggin' Up Dinosaurs T-Rex Plastic Skeleton Set
This is a set of small plastic dinosaur "bones" that are poured into a combination plaster/rock mix and allowed to harden.
Kids use the included wooden hammer and chisel to slowly break apart the rock to reveal and release the bones.
A set of goggles and some instructions are also included.
Amazon reviewer Jeff Freeman says this kit is fun for a variety of ages, but suggests bringing your own tools:
The plaster is neutrally colored and despite some worries I found that it washed right off the concrete on my dad's porch.
The kids of course loved the digging and especially the brushing away of dust from the bones, which is of course the part that makes even a grown adult feel more like Robert Bakker.
In that connection, provided tools are as I recall a little paintbrush, a round wooden "chisel," and a very light wooden hammer. These are adequate to the task of excavation, but it will take a while. For younger children you may wish to consider using a cold chisel and a light "real" hammer despite the risk of damaging the "fossils," which latter are by the way made of a rather softish plastic.
The skeleton is to my moderately practiced eyeballs basically anatomically correct (at least one competitor has the ilia reversed) and stands up reasonably well to moderate playtime use by juvenile hominids once assembled.
The wee ones needed a little help assembling the skeleton, which is in about a dozen pieces. Recreational disarticulations can be addressed effectively with application of a small amount of plastic cement or similar.
Overall, a great time and not too big a mess. Good I'd say for basically-normal kids from about 5 to about 15. As there is to my knowledge nobody in my immediate family who is basically normal, I'll note that it's probably good for nerds ranging from 3 to 30.
Dinosaur Eggs Fossil Excavation Toy
Dig a Dozen Dino Eggs Kit - Archaeology Science STEM Toys
This kit, which prides itself as being "authenticated to meet the highest standards of STEM learning," includes:
- 12 Dino Eggs (with a unique toy dinosaur in each)
- 12 Chisel/Brushes
- 12 Instruction Guides
- 12 full-colored learning cards - one for each dino
Be warned -- it's messy!
Dinosaur Skeleton & Fossil Books for Kids
One or more of these books would be a great companion piece to your child's dinosaur skeletons.
Digging Up Dinosaurs (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2)National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of DinosaursFossils for Kids: Finding, Identifying, and CollectingCurious About Fossils (Smithsonian)
Qualanno Stovall says
I have a two year old son who is interested in me purchasing him a large , talking, teaching English dinosaur and Cantonese, who can square dance and tap dance and teach abcs , numbers , manners and how to dress bath and cloth yourself please. Please inform me if you have any dinosaurs like that please, I would very much like to purchase it.