Hmm, I may have already used this blog title before...

...but no matter, it applies here again.

This weekend, I helped my duaghter, a second-grader, put together an assignment to make a "Dino-rama" - a diorama display of an assigned dinosaur. The "exhibit" had to caontain the dinosaur, plants, animals, food & water sources, and other dinosaurs from their era.

Our assinged reptile was SALTOPUS.

Salt-o-pus...there are so many bad jokes but I will refrain...

Anyway, apparently little is known of saltopus except that they were found in what is now Scotland, were about the size of a cat, and had many small pointy teeth. It is assumed that they ate insects and/or carrion.

Since they were dinos, WE assumed that their babies hatched from eggs. So I cleaned an eggshell, and also made "clay" from a mix of cornstarch, water, and salt (LOTS of salt). She shaped the Dino and then made a baby to fit into the eggshell. (Our idea of a "gimmick" for her display.)

After air-drying, she painted the dinos and the eggshells, and I began taping up the box, and basically doing the portions of the project that weren't totally kid-safe, like using big sharp scissors and the hot glue gun.

We decided to glue rocks around an oval of blue paper to simulate a pond (water source.) My daughter convinced me to let HER pull the glue gun trigger while I held the tiny pebbled in my fingers.Two second-degree burns on my finger and thumb later, I reclaimed the glue gun helm and we eventually finished the project. She made a "key" to explain what each of the display elements are (they are marked with coordinating numbered red dots.) She also has to give a presentation to her class about saltopus and the triassic period. Note that the "food sorce" (as she spelled it on her Exhibit Key) are two dead bugs I found in/on the frog habitat. I hot-glued them right into the scene!

Here's a picture of our handiwork, minus the blisters: