STEM Activities

Free Dinosaur Shapes Craft Activity: Strengthening Little Hands

Make a dinosaur from paper shapes and learn their names along the way. Cutting and sticking build hand strength and fine motor skills.

Updated 7 September 2023

Dinosaur made from coloured paper shapes: half-circle body, triangle spikes and rectangle legs

Quick answer

Cut a half-circle body, a rectangle neck and a mix of circles, triangles, squares and rectangles, then let your child build a dinosaur and name each shape. Ages 3 to 6, about 20 minutes.

Let's make some dinosaurs and learn shapes along the way. In this activity your child gets a chance to practise recognising and naming shapes, and sticking them onto the paper supports their fine motor skills: they have to apply glue, pick up a shape and place it on the body.

1. Shape dinosaur collage

Build a dinosaur from paper circles, triangles, squares and rectangles, naming each shape as it goes on.

Best forShape recognition and gluing
Age3 to 6
Time20 to 30 minutes
Mess levelLow
DifficultyEasy
CostUnder £1

You will need

A sheet of card
Coloured paper
Scissors
Glue (optional)

How to set it up

Draw the shapes you will need to make a dinosaur.
Cut out a large half-circle for the body and a large rectangle for the neck.
Cut out circles, triangles, squares and rectangles in different sizes.
Let your child place or stick the body in the middle of the card and use the shapes to build legs, neck, head, spikes and tail, naming each shape as they go.

Why it helps

Cutting with scissors builds hand strength: opening and closing them works the small muscles in the hand. It also develops bilateral coordination, using both sides of the body at once by holding the paper with one hand and cutting with the other, which later helps with buttons and zips. Naming the shapes as they build turns the craft into an early maths lesson without it feeling like one.