A few days after Christmas my mum handed me a large white speckled egg. Little button gaped at her in awe… ‘be careful, if you drop it the dinosaur egg might not hatch’!
‘Hatch?’… gulp!!!
Obviously…that was me.
Carefully we stowed the egg away until we got home and as instructed sat it in a large bowl of water, the ideal environment for catching a dinosaur egg it seems.
‘Hmm… this egg is not quite ready! said Little Button whilst carefully inspecting the shiny wet surface. And off she went to play.
Of course I had mistaken Little Buttons ease of leaving the egg alone as a sign of lost interest. How wrong was I! She was completely mesmerised by the idea of hatching an egg. Dashing downstairs to check her egg on the second morning she was delighted to find it had cracked! We talked about eggs and how some are for eating, whilst others hatching and it remained the sole focus of her day.
More cracks…. but wait, they were bigger! Little Button spotted an eye (?) or so she says. ‘Awwwww it’s so sweeeeet’ she crooned.
‘Omg, it’s hideous!’ Sure enough, popping out of the egg was ….something. Little Button remained enthusiastic and mostly patient, though after 4 days of waiting was quite keen to ask ‘do you need some help little fellow?’.
By the evening we decided that perhaps it did need a helping hand after all. Little button, now worried that the baby dinosaur was stuck, gave it a little tug and…… out popped the dinosaur.
‘It’s a girl!’ she announced proudly. ‘Her name is Annette’!
Wait…. what? That’s my name! ‘Are you sure?’ I asked Little Button.
‘No’ she replied, ‘she’s called Nanny’, she smiled. ‘OK’ I agreed quickly.
Baby dinosaur has now been fully introduced to all Little Buttons other favourite toys. ‘She can’t look after herself, she’s a baby’ she explains whilst carrying the creature everywhere she goes. And so, whilst we thought the fun would end once the dinosaur had hatched, it turns out that Little Button has evolved the game herself. Brilliant!
– Patience. Waiting for the baby dinosaur to hatch.
– Empathy. Sympathising with baby dinosaur being stuck in the egg and concerned that it was getting cold in the water on day 4.
– Understanding. The baby dinosaur needed to grow before being ready to hatch. The baby dinosaur needed to be looked after once hatched.
This is a great educational toy with lots of play and learning value. After writing this, I found out that if left in water after hatching, the baby dinosaur will grow further in size. Little Button insisted on evacuating baby dinosaur from the water immediately and didn’t want to put her back in to see if she would grow any further.
I am not sure where my mum got the egg from, but after a bit of searching, it looks as though quite a few toy shops sell these and they are around £6 in price. A bargain!
What do you think… weird science or oh so cute?
WILD is now out in Spanish!
WILD – Our debut children’s picture book
Dad blogger Ross Good from The Stented Papa is the official storyteller for WILD!
Happy book birthday WILD!
Yep…She really loved this hatching dinosaur egg! Great for developing their patience.
This toy sounds incredible. Good that little button loved it so much. Plus for only £6 its a steal! I wonder who long the little one will nurture the dinosaur for?
looks pretty neat. I think my daughter would get a real charge out of that
What a cool toy! So fun to see the hatching process!
£6? I kind of want one for myself! Luke…of course…would also love it. 😉 I’m off to find one! Ray xx #marvmondays
Awe, what a wonderful experience and toy! I love that she initially named it after you! #TwinklyTuesday
How lovely I want one! It looks very engaging and a fun and interesting way to bring depth into learning.
Monkey is obsessed with these!! The only thing I will say is over a period of time they dry out and start to shrink back so you need to give it a soak every now and again. I like this one, we normally end up with t-rex :). Sounds like button really enjoyed it too.Thank you for joining us at #BloggerClubUK hope to see you again next week x