How to Make a Dinosaur Recipe with Preschoolers (With Stories)

How to Make a Dinosaur Recipe with Preschoolers (With Stories): Enjoy a dinosaur recipe (made with dirt pudding) that preschoolers and kindergartners can make with no stove or oven!

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*Thanks to Glorious Treats for the idea for this recipe!

How To: The Recipe

We made a dinosaur-inspired snack because I found the perfect new dinosaur book to read with the kids – I’ll talk about that more later. This recipe is simple and a lot of fun because the kids can do a little bit of role-playing. All you need is instant chocolate pudding boxes, milk, white chocolate chips (or mini marshmallows), chocolate cookies (like chocolate filled Oreos), and dinosaur icing decorations.

First, I set out a clear plastic cup and a plastic spoon for each of the twelve kids attending the program. I had six kids at a table and had each table make a batch of pudding – I had them pour the (pre-measured) milk into a bowl and then add a box of chocolate instant pudding. They mixed and mixed. While the pudding set, they crushed chocolate filled Oreos in plastic baggies. Then, I helped them scoop pudding into their cups and added mini marshmallows (you can also use white chocolate chips) and instructed them to mix their pudding and marshmallows together. After that, they sprinkled their crushed up Oreos on top for some extra “dirt.” Finally, they put their dinosaur icing decorations on top! And then we ate up our delicious snack, finding marshmallow “fossils” along the way.

How To: The Program

Book & Cook is a class I do for 4-6 year olds. We read fun, new books and we cook something simple (because they’re preschoolers-first graders). We don’t have an oven or a stove, but we use toaster ovens, a griddle, a blender, and microwaves.

To kick off our five week session, I put together a DINOSAUR themed class!

First we talked about dinosaurs and fossils and touched on archeologists a little bit. The kids were anxious to get started on cooking though.

So we got started! We made the recipe, and it went well! I love pudding-based recipes because they require no major equipment and are quick. See “How To: The Recipe” for our cooking details.

After we completed making our snack, it was time to EAT! They enjoyed their treats on our floor cushions while I read my book picks to them. We read Tyrannosaurus Rex Vs. Edna the Very First Chicken by Douglas Rees and Dino Duckling by Alison Murray. Sporadically, a child would yell out, “I found a fossil!” when they picked up a marshmallow on their spoons. It was perfect!

Tyrannosaurus Rex Vs. Edna the Very First Chicken by Douglas Rees was my inspiration for this particular class. This book came out in 2017 and is SO FUN! Edna, the very first chicken, challenges the T-Rex and *spoiler* wins! (Ever wonder why chickens exist still and T-Rex’s don’t?) It has the perfect amount of words to make it interesting enough for preschoolers and older, but it is not so wordy that it bores them. I saw it on our “New Book” shelf and knew that I would need to find a dinosaur recipe to make, just so we could read this book!

We also read Dino Duckling by Alison Murray. Dino is a dinosaur who grows up in a family of ducks. He learns to do all of the things ducks do – ran, jumped, and flapped. But he couldn’t fly. He felt left out and alone — until his family of ducks returns and they travel south a different way, a way that allows Dino to come too. It’s a book with simple text about celebrating differences and making compromises so others can be included too. Love it!

And that was that! Our Dinosaur Book & Cook class was a success!

Check out some of our very favorite In the Kitchen ideas:

• Edible Marshmallow Play Dough
• Peanut Butter and Jelly Rolls Recipe For Kids (With Stories!)
• Unconventional Picture Books About Food

Do you have any great pudding recipes for kids? Comment below!