MiAnna's Cabana: Dinosaur Egg Tutorial

So for our study of the Letter E I thought it would be fun to make Eggs. You could put anything that hatches in yours, but we used dinosaurs. Be sneaky - I slipped our baby dinosaurs into their eggs in the wee hours of the morning, once the eggs were totally dry. Anywho...

You will need:

- newspaper (rip it into smallish pieces)

- 1/4 cup flour

- 5 cups water

- one balloon for each egg

- a pot (for heating the paste in)

- tape

- bits of string

1. Make your paste. This recipe makes more than enough for several eggs. Mix the flour and water in your pot until flour is disolved. Slowly heat the mixture on your stove top (a grown-up's job). The paste will be very watery. Allow to cool before using (No heat option: just use more flour and warm water).

2. Inflate your balloon to an egg-ish shape. Knot the end and tape it to the table.

3. You can let your kids dip straight out of the (cooled) pot, or you can give them small bowls of it. Whatever works for you. Show them how to dip a piece of the newspaper and then slide it between their fingers so the extra-paste runs off.

4. Stick the wet paper to your balloon. Continue dipping and sticking, overlapping the paper until the balloon is nearly covered. There should be a small opening at the bottom (you will need this to sneak your hatchling into later).

Little ones can have fun with this too, though they will need help finishing!

5. Use your string to hang the eggs up to dry. They will drip! Hang them outside or put something under them to catch the mess. This will take a lonnnnggg time to dry.

6. When the eggs are dry you can put a second layer on them if you want to. Just make sure the thing is solid so paint doesn't leak through to your hatchling. Course, if you make it too solid you may end up needing a baseball bat to get it open... When it's totally dry, pop and remove the balloon. Secretly put in your hatchling and seal the whole with newpaper pieces and paste (you can use regular glue if you pitched the paste while waiting for the eggs to dry).

7. Now it's time to paint! You can do whatever colors you like. Be accurate if you want, or use your kids favorite colors (who knows what color dinosaur eggs were anyways?).