Dinosaur Sorting Activity | What did dinosaurs eat?

Dinosaurs aren't just for play! Dinosaur figures are ideal for developing a variety of early maths skills in young dino fans, like counting and sorting. Here is a brain boosting activity to get you started.

What did dinosaurs eat?

Dinosaurs can be placed into groups based on the types of food they ate. 

Some dinosaurs called 'carnivores' only ate meat.
Others called 'herbivores' only ate plants.
Dinosaurs that ate meat and plants are called ‘omnivores’.

Best for: Dino fans ages 4 and up.
Brain benefits: Practice sorting into groups and counting. Find out what dinosaurs ate – carnivore, herbivore or omnivore.
Consideration: You will need a collection of toy dinosaurs.  

On separate pieces of paper write carnivore, herbivore and omnivore.

Start off with reviewing the dinosaurs from your toy collection – name the dinosaurs and ask questions about what your children know about the dinosaurs, you will be surprised to discover just how much they have picked up.  Using your knowledge, guess whether the dinosaur is a carnivore, herbivore or omnivore and place it into the right group.

How many dinosaurs are in each group? Which group has the most dinosaurs? Which group has the least dinosaurs?

Once all of the dinosaurs are sorted, you can check any that you are unsure about here.

💡 Surprisingly, the bigger the dinosaurs were, the more likely they were to be a herbivore.

You can also group dinosaurs by number of legs, colour, size or weight. Can your little dino fan think of different ways to group the dinosaurs?