Dinovember and Dinosaur Gift Guide for all ages

What is Dinovember I hear you ask! Well, I always describe it as ‘Elf on the Shelf’ but with more teeth! For the month of November, the dinosaurs of the house get up to all sorts of antics in the night. Sometimes funny, sometimes naughty, always entertaining. We have done it for years and years since I first discovered it. Both of my children absolutely love it, and in all honesty, I do too. Items in this article have been sent to me for inclusion, prices correct at time of posting.

It adds a little bit of magic into what can be a really dreary month and I think this year in particular we could all use some extra things to look forward to, I know my children are feeling pretty disheartened about all the things that have been cancelled for them this year.

Dinovember Inspiration

Some of our previous adventures:

A very simple one, raiding the fridge, they are pretty mischievous and the kids thought it was brilliant when they went to get the milk for their cereal. Every morning they run around the house looking for them. It might be harder this year though, as my daughter doesn’t go to sleep until around 9 and I’m in bed by 10! Will have to do some forward planning.

Another hit was the ‘house band’ where they raided the pots and pans and took the children’s ukulele for a bit of noise creation in the kitchen. Sadly Rex the giant inflatable didn’t survive after a few too many times being jumped on by an overzealous 6 year old but he was quite large to manhandle quietly around the house at night! I do miss him though!

So there you have it, very simple, you just need a little creativity and imagination and I promise it’s worth it when they wake up, charge around looking for them and then fall into cries of amazement or fits of giggles when they find them. You can find heaps of ideas on Pinterest but I also utilise any Elf on The Shelf ideas I see. I’m pretty sure they are getting wise to the fact that I’m behind it but they still love to play along and it seems to be something they are happy not to be too old for unlike a lot of things nowadays!

Dinosaur Gift Guide

If you have a dinosaur lover in your life, I’ve got some lovely items for you that will make their day opening for a birthday or at Christmas. (Some items have been given to me in exchange for this review.)

These utterly gorgeous knitted dinos from Best Years who have not one but four pages of glorious dinosaur toys for all ages, they even have dinosaurs you can hang on your Christmas tree! Ice Blue knitted Diplodocus and Red knitted Triceratops both £14.99

This fabulous jigsaw from Wentworth Puzzles is unlike anything I’ve seen before, there are no straight edges, (not even the corners!) and the puzzles contain pieces shaped like the jigsaw subject! How amazing is that? They are a British company who use wood from sustainable sources and don’t use plastic in their packaging, another big win for me. Their puzzles come in a huge variety of themes, you might have seen them before in The National Gallery and National Trust gift shops. 100 piece Jurassic Jumble Jigsaw £27.00

This incredibly scary (and very informative!) T Rex projector and room guard from Brainstorm Ltd will protect your room from intruders and then give you a slide show of dinosaur facts straight after. Perfect as my son’s school topic is dinosaurs this year and so he can learn some brilliant facts to share with the class and even take the room guard in to show his classmates. T Rex Projector and Room Guard £29.99

I just love this brilliant Natural History Museum T-Rex costume so much and if it it came in adult sizes, I would 100% have one for myself if so. As it stands, I’ll have to make do with watching the children run around in it! T Rex Costume: £25

So there you have it, one of our more exciting and interesting annual traditions, dinovember has really been a source of great joy and fun in our lives and we hope that this might have inspired you to try it too. It’s just brilliant if you have some dinosaur lovers in your life, or even if you just want to amuse yourself and pass away some time when we’re all staying closer to home this year! Please do tag me on social media if you give it a go, I love seeing all your adventurers! Find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

If you like this gift guide and would like more inspiration, check out my Ultimate Rainbow Lover and Outdoor Loving Kids Gift Guides.