Dig out some old toys and give them new purpose! After all, what better guardian could there be for your plants than a glorious golden dinosaur?

This project takes no skill, few materials, and not a whole lot of time. In fact, while we waited for the dino to dry, we made tacos. Golden dinosaur + tacos = a pretty sweet Sunday afternoon.

Step 1: Obtain Materials

You will need:

a dinosaur (or soft hollow vinyl/plastic toy that can be cut) of whatever size

sharpie

knife and/or scissors

newspaper/drop cloth/trash bag (to protect ground when painting)

netting (optional)

rocks or sand to weight the toy

spray paint (color and sealant)

a plant (I chose a begonia because I heart them)

soil

Step 2: Stab the Dinosaur With a Knife

Draw the boundaries of where you want the planter opening to be, cut, remove stuffing/foam/whatever (there was a whole lot of it in ours.!)

We also stabbed holes in each foot and cut a larger hole in the belly for drainage purposes. The larger hole seemed maybe too large so we cut a piece of netting we had around and put it overtop so rocks/soil wouldn't fall out (see picture).

Then we filled the legs, tail, and some of the hollow head with pebbles to weigh down the planter so it wouldn't be top heavy with the plant in it.

Step 3: Coat the Dinosaur in Chemicals From a Can

After checking out what colors of paint we had available (blue, purple, gold), the children unanimously chose gold and glitter for our Dino.

We put a drop cloth down and used a box waiting for recycling day as our painting pedestal. We sprayed the solid gold color first, then added glitter.

After a little time to dry, we coated with sealant.

Step 4: Fill Dinosaur With Dirt and Plants

Throw a little soil in, add a plant, then pack some soil in the edges.

Probably some smaller plants would also be fun and succulents would do well indoors but I went big and put a begonia in it. If we had been working with a smaller dinosaur or toy, I would probably use terrarium plants.