Jell-O Dinosaur Egg Sensory Bin

This activity was so fun all the way through! I will warn you that it got messy during the setup and the sensory bin part, so definitely don’t do this if you are in a rush or cannot supervise or help little ones. I needed to facilitate a lot of the setup for both my 3- and 5-year-old, so this is a hands-on activity for you. Sometimes messy sensory play is just what we all need!

We separated the set up and sensory bin play into 2 different days. The gelatin needs time to set, so this is not a last-minute activity you can throw together. It’s super fun, but you’ll want to plan ahead.

Here’s what you need

Gelatin. I know the title says Jell-O, but please use unflavored gelatin, unless you want a giant sticky mess. I’ve used this brand several times and have had good results. Unflavored gelatin doesn’t taste good at all, so although this is a taste safe material, most kids and babies will not want to eat it. *Jell-O/gelatin is a choking hazard, so please provide extra supervision if your littlest ones are participating!
Dinosaurs. This set has mini dinosaurs which fit into our “eggs” perfectly. I usually like to invest in high quality animal figurines, so although these weren’t as detailed as other brands, the cost and size were just what I was after. They were very reasonably priced for a larger set and the kids loved the sheer number in this set. We had dinosaurs lined up on every surface of our house for days after they arrived.
Balloons. These are simply to form the “egg” shape, so no need to spend much here. I was trying to figure out a way to be more eco-friendly, but I could only get the balloons to work correctly for this activity.
Water
Sensory bin
Food coloring- optional. I was planning on adding food coloring to a few of the balloons, but it was a game time decision to leave it out at our house. Trying to manage a somewhat messy activity with 2 kids and attempting to take photos of the process meant my hands were too full to add in any extra tasks. So, you get pictures of plain gelatin, but I think it would be awesome to add in next time.
Mixing bowl, spatula, funnel for making the “eggs”.
Utensils for the sensory bin. We used tongs, forks, knives, spoons, and toothpicks.
Kitchen scissors (my pair can go in the dishwasher) were very helpful for opening the “eggs”.

Set up

10+ minutes.

Put the dinosaurs into the balloons. Do this first before making the gelatin!
Prepare the gelatin. The amount you make will depend on how many balloons you plan to fill up. I would make at least 5 eggs per child because they can rescue the dinosaurs pretty quickly. It would be a bummer to go through all the work and have the activity only last 2 minutes because the kids ran out of eggs. I think we made 15-20 total.
- You will want about 3/4 of the total amount of water your gelatin recipe calls for. This helps keep the gelatin a little stiffer and will hold the egg shape better.
- I first sprinkled 1 tablespoon of gelatin in 1 cup of cool water in a large glass measuring cup (and bowl because we had to do this double). The kids LOVED this part, so if you have the patience, I recommend letting them help. Let this sit for 3-5 minutes (called blooming).
- Then we added 2 additional cups of warm/hot water and stirred quickly, but gently. You have to work somewhat fast here to avoid clumping, so just have everything ready to go and only work on one batch at a time. Continue mixing until gelatin is completely dissolved. Our gelatin was a little stinky, so prepare the kids for that part.
Using a funnel, pour some gelatin into the balloons. You want to leave room to tie, so don’t fill completely. We ended up with gelatin squeezing out more than once, so you might want to do this step over a bowl to avoid extra mess.
Tie the balloons, place in a container, and chill in the refrigerator until set. I checked on ours several times throughout the day and it really took a few hours for them to be anywhere close to ready. We let them sit overnight and they turned out great.
Let the kids break the “eggs” and help the dinosaurs “hatch”.

Clean up

5-10 minutes

Wash all dishes from making the gelatin/put them in the dishwasher. Wipe the counters (and floors if your kids somehow got gelatin EVERYWHERE like mine did).
After the sensory bin fun, rinse off the dinosaurs and let air dry. Throw away the gelatin and wash the sensory bin. Wash all utensils.

Because we weren’t eating this, I really let the kids take charge of the scooping and measuring. This was a low stakes opportunity for practice because the gelatin didn’t have to be perfect. Sometimes with baking, recipes need to be precise and honestly it can be tough to let the kids help in a meaningful way.

They really got to measure everything for this activity, plus we got to talk about numbers and math concepts. We also talked about dissolving and how we couldn’t take the powdered gelatin back out of the water. I find science fascinating and love having these conversations with the kids!

If you look at the pictures above, notice that each child is able to do a different helping job. Vaila is still working on her pouring aim, so she got to help hold the balloon. She helped in a lot of other ways earlier, but the pouring portion of this would have been too messy for my liking if I let her do it by herself. We will keep practicing in less sticky scenarios, but for now, she got to help and I had less mess to clean up.

Brinley has had more experience with precise pouring and wanted to try. Actually, she said no at first, but I knew she could be successful. So, in a low-pressure way I said, “I think you can do it. If you want to help, I’ll hold everything else and you can focus on pouring.” She was sold and did a splendid job. We had a few balloons overflow, so I recommend doing this over a bowl at your house.

After your balloon eggs are filled up, tie them and let them set up in the refrigerator. Then comes the sensory bin portion of the activity.

I would recommend using a towel, sheet, shower curtain liner, or blanket under your sensory bin if you think your kids might let the gelatin escape the bin. I always underestimate how messy things can get, so my floor gets mopped several times a day!

We used scissors to cut open the balloons. I just opened the tied end a little and let the kids get the eggs out. Depending on how often your child has encountered Jell-O, they might be a little hesitant at first. It might have an unfamiliar texture and is not a typical material for sensory bins at our house.

Again, keep things low-pressure and model how to play with the eggs. I think that step gets missed a lot when parents introduce sensory play. Kids have no idea what you are wanting them to do or how fun sensory bins can be! Sensory bin play is a skill that needs to be modeled and practiced together before you can set down a bin of rice/water/ice/oats/Jell-O and walk away. They need to know the boundaries and ground rules, how to play and scoop, and how to clean up.

My kids are far from perfect, but they have recently been cleaning up 95% of our sensory bins without me even asking. They just know when they are finished, things need to get cleaned up before they can move on to the next activity. I’m sure this won’t last forever and their independence in the cleaning department will ebb and flow, but it’s nice to catch a glimpse of all the repetition and modeling and cleaning together paying off.

I have mentioned this before, but I really enjoy watching the kids problem solve. When we use sensory bins, I often give them a variety of utensils and let them figure out what they like to use for different purposes. The toothpicks and tongs were top choices the day we hatched the dinosaurs.

After all of the dinos were set free, I threw away the gelatin and filled the sensory bin with water. The girls all helped rinse them off and we let them air dry on a towel. Even Ellette got in on the action after she woke up from her nap! These photos were taken about 2 months before this post will be published and it’s wild to see how much older she looks now.

There you have it. A taste-safe dino egg activity that will be sure to engage your kids from set up to clean up.

I know this activity is on the messier side, but as winter approaches and it gets harder to be outside for hours at a time, I look for activities to help fill some time. I hope your kids enjoy it as much as mine did. We will definitely be doing this again when the snowy days are dragging.

Don’t forget to share this with a friend and tag me on social if you make these Jell-O dinosaur eggs!