Creating Dinosaur land

Dinosaurs as I have mentioned before are one of the very extra special creatures that encompass all that Declan loves.
Our house at times looks like a scene from a prehistoric world...Declan's owns many different sizes of plastic dino friends that participate in going potty, sitting up at the dinner table to watch, having a tea party, dancing along to the wiggles, reading books and many other day to day activities...okay you get the point he is obsessed to the max!!!

When the dinosaurs are not being man handled by my munchkins ( Thalia too now is quite fond of our Dino friends) they are stored in a see though plastic box with the exception of Brachiosaurous who often sits proud on Declan's Big boy shelf in his room or tucked in bed alongside Declan.
Other than outdoor play in the garden and the use of imagination our dino friends didn't have a "home" of their own. Hence the Dinosaur land project commenced.

I sat with Declan about 2 weeks ago and showed him a big shoe box (that my new big black boots came in :D) and we discussed about making it into a dinosaur land. After lots of idea's and identifying just what the dinosaurs needed according to Declan we set out on our task at hand.

On the list of requirements was listed :

• A Volcano
• Water
• trees including a "Nickle Nackle tree" :P
• rocks
• hills and mountains
• grass

We came up with a collection of old "junk" from around the house such as boxes of different sizes, a drink holder from McDonald's, a cardboard baking paper roll, newspaper and placed them in the box in different positions until we were happy.
Declan helped glue them in place and I made some paper mache glue and while Declan was alseep started the process of paper macheing over the boxes to convert them into the listed items. The paper mache glue only consists of flour, water and a touch of salt (the salt helps to preserve the glue and when used in hunid climates it prevents the project from moulding).
When Declan's older cousins arrived from nsw on school holidays I asked them to join us in the making process....Jess helped me finish the paper mache process and added a cave to the project which myself and Declan are now very grateful of. Both Josh and Jess helped Declan and myself paint when the paper mache had dried and the finishing touches were made.
With the help of a cheap packet of small river rocks ($2 from choice), some different colours of felt from a craft/art store ($1.80 a piece), a small dinosaur bag packet from The Warehouse ($2.95 i think) containing small plastic dinosaurs and trees we glued in the finishing touches (with pva glue). Just before finishing Jess yet again came up with a great idea...quickly ran outside in the freezing cold I might add, and gathered some sticks to glue in for a nest. why did I not think of that.
We all enjoyed playing with it for the first time when the finished product was revealed and I'm sure it will be very much loved and used.
This project just goes to show how cheap something so special can be, the process is just as special as the product and it was lots of fun to do!!!! It took imagination, concentration,collaboration, skill, use of fine and gross motor skills, thought, the art of mixing colours and much more to create.
The finished product gives the player/user an amazing sensory experience with its vibrant colours, unique shapes, soft felt, sculptured trees, bumpy rocks, textured paint and pure invitation to play. .....and the look on Declan's face every time he sees it is worth every minute.
the photo's that follow will explain the journey...