A “DIY Dinosaur” Craft Kit In Review
An ideal gift for a young dinosaur fan that combines a fascination for all things dinosaur with a practical craft kit. This make your own dinosaur craft kit has proved popular both with young children and with their parents and guardians. Each kit contains all that is required to make a felt, dinosaur soft toy. The box contains felt shapes already cut to shape, stuffing material, glue, wiggly eyes, thread and a needle for the sewing. The instructions are written in plain English and they are a little light on detail but there are some handy diagrams to assist budding young crafters.
The Make Your Own Dinosaur Craft Kits
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Two Different Dinosaurs
There are two different dinosaurs in the series, each kit is supplied with the materials to make one dinosaur. There is a purple Stegosaurus complete with yellow felt spots and armour plates made from diamond-shaped felt pieces that have already been cut out for you. The second dinosaur in the kit series is the carnivorous Tyrannosaurus rex. The felt pieces in our kit were light green in colour, with some blue pieces to make the underside of the soft toy. The set even included a series of pink felt spots that could be glued onto the flank of the T. rex, so that a pink, spotted “Tyrant Lizard King” could be made.
The teeth of this meat-eating dinosaur were made from pieces of white coloured felt that had already been pre-cut. They were a little difficult to sew into the mouth, but a dab of glue to secure them first did the trick.
The Make Your Own Dinosaur – Purple Stegosaurus
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
How to “Plump Up” Your Dinosaur
The stuffing material provided was just enough to fill out the animal, however, if young dinosaur fans are concerned about this at all, cotton wool can be used to help “plump up” your dinosaur if required. The first thing to do is to check that you have all the contents of the kit, they are supplied in clear plastic bags so that the contents can easily be checked. Watch out for the sewing needle, the point of the needle was held securely by a small, bright yellow block of foam in our kits. This would prevent anyone from pricking their finger as the kit was opened. Once you are ready to start, the first job is to sew the body pieces together. If the young dinosaur fan is not that good at sewing the pieces they can always be glued first before stitching together. Sew the underside to the rest of the body, but leave a gap for the pink or red mouth piece, as it is through the mouth that you push the stuffing material to fill out your dinosaur.
Once the mouth has been sewn in place, it is then a question of sewing together the limbs, the front limbs of the T. rex proved to be the most fiddly, this is because they were much smaller than the back legs. Don’t forget to stuff the limbs with the soft, stuffing material and then when this stuffing job has been completed, the limbs can be sewn onto the body. A dab of glue can help to secure the legs and arms in place before sewing commences. It is also a good idea to spend a little time working out where on the body the legs will go, a bit of care at this stage will help you create a more aesthetically pleasing end result.
The Make Your Own Dinosaur Tyrannosaurus rex Craft Kit
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Once the legs are finished, it is just a question of decorating your dinosaur. With the Tyrannosaurus rex, as mentioned earlier, the set contained some pink felt dots that could be glued onto the body to make a spotted dinosaur. The Stegosaurus kit comes with some yellow pre-cut felt shapes so that you can decorate your soft toy and add the row of spikes at the end of the tail. The last thing to do is to glue the wiggly eyes in place (we call them “goggle eyes”) and you have made your very own soft toy dinosaur.
To view Everything Dinosaur’s wide range of dinosaur themed educational products and craft kits: Dinosaur Themed Crafts and Toys.
Dinosaur Craft Kit
This kit is suitable for children aged six years and upwards, although an adult with some craft and sewing skills on hand to assist where necessary would be very helpful. It was difficult to make the bipedal T. rex stand upright but that did not seem to detract from the sense of achievement for having made a “prehistoric animal”.
A simple and fun to make dinosaur kit, with the added benefit of having everything you need to make your dinosaur contained in the box. Ideal for young dinosaur fans from six years or older and a great hobby or craft idea. After all, you can resist making their own “DIY dinosaur”.
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