My kids love PBS Kids. We watch Word World and Dinosaur Train the most. So when it comes to planning a surprise for Father’s Day it wasn’t hard for me to get my children involved in the planning with a Dinosaur Train theme breakfast for dad!

If your children want to make plans for their dad’s breakfast like we are, they will enjoy this clip from Gilbert, the Junior Conductor, in which the Pteranadon Family enjoys eating breakfast on the Dinosaur Train. For your budding paleontologist help them dig up a dino-rific breakfast with these suggestions:

*DINOSAUR EGGS – Let the kids prepare a pot with water. Moms you’ll need to get the stove top going and place the pot on top. Boil up the eggs (8 minute) and then dump them into a colander. Let your children run cold water over them until they are cool to the touch (2-5 minutes). For immediate serving, allow the children to crack the eggs a little by tapping them on the counter, like eggs in a pteranadon nest (if you want to make a nest boil some spaghetti noodles with the eggs and place the noodles as a bed on the plate to rest the eggs inside). For made-a-head, have your children draw cracks on the eggs with a black non-toxic black crayon.

*T.REX FOOTPRINT PANCAKES – Let the children assist you in making the batter for pancakes. Mom will cook up the patches and when their done allow the children to cut them into footprint shapes using a cookie cutter or a toddler knife such as the ones we own from our Gerber utensil set. You can also have the children use any dinosaur cookie cutters you own to shape dad’s pancakes.

*PALEONTOLOGIST WAFFLES – If your dad (or children) enjoy playing “hide-a-go-seek” than maybe mom would rather make waffles. Stack them as high as daddy like them and allow the children to hide yummies between the layers – such as slices of banana, apple, strawberries; chocolate chips; crushed pineapple; nutella or other nut/seed butter; or shredded coconut. Let them mix and match as they please. Mom can prepare the goodies by providing a ramekin of each use by the hiders. Then dad can seek out these “fossils” while digging into his waffles!

*CONDUCTOR CONCESSIONS – Before you enter the lunch “time tunnel”, top off dad’s breakfast with a colorful, healthy smoothie. Blend yogurt with dad’s favorite fruits. Your child can help wash and peel any fruits. Mom will need to prepare and operate the blender.

IMPORTANT: Before serving any of these dishes, make sure that no one is allergic to any of the ingredients, or should not eat particular foods because of a family dietary practice. Keep in mind your family members’ dietary desire to be herbivore, omnivore, or carnivore.

Before Father’s Day morning, mommy and children can write and design a menu to announce all the tasty foods to be served. Before preparing any food, have a discussion with all the cooks about safety in the kitchen. Talk about the jobs an adult should do and jobs a child can do in the kitchen.

After breakfast take Dr. Scott’s advice and, “Get outside, get into nature and make your own discoveries.”

Tell Mom Start your Dino-Dad breakfast plans.

About Summer:

Summer is the President of our Local MOMS Club chapter, she is the mother of two adorable active boys, and is always thinking of ways to help others. She is a friend, a wife, and always busy as all mommies are. She is very active on Facebook, addicted to Geocaching and very interested in organic and green living while cooking up a storm.