Safari Ltd Mammal Skulls Discovery Play

The boys are loving these mammal skulls which Safari Ltd has sent us!  They specifically love to bury these in the kinetic sand and play scavenger hunt or play-pretend to be scientists.  This is one of the afterschool activities the boys enjoy playing together and working independently.


Usually, Mavi sets up the activity.  Here, his idea was to dig the skulls and match them to our animal figures.  He assembled the sand and the animal figures while instructing Vito to wait till he finishes the set up.  I love how Mavi is acting like a leader in this one.  He is now beginning to act as a mentor to his brother, especially on creating activities that both of them can work together.  On my part, I still have to supervise, but minimal.


I instructed the boys to use their protective gear whenever they do hammering activities or do experiments.


Here Mavi is showing Vito how to clean the skulls.  Because we used kinetic sand, they’re kind of hard to remove from the holes of the skulls, so one should use proper tools inorder to clear the skulls with sand.


Once the skulls are cleaned, Vito would look for the animal match (to identify who’s skull is it).  It’s quite tricky, but there are some skulls that were easy to identify.  Check out the rhino and the giraffe.  Safari Ltd did a really good job here, the figures are so detailed!  These skulls has taught the kids which part of the animal remains after it dies, so basically all the bony tissues will be left and the rest will rot.




This is what I was talking about when I mentioned of the kinetic sand, seeping through the holes of the skull.  I gave the boys our jumbo plastic needles so they can remove those sand from the tiny holes of the skulls.  I realized that this was a great fine motor skill practise!



I highly recommend this Safari Ltd Mammal Skulls.  It gave the kids a sense of “realistic play” when they dig bones and fossils!  This activity kept my boys engaged and they worked together without bickering LOL.  I stored the kinetic sand and the skulls in a sealed container so it’s easier for me to take them out whenever they want to play with them.  And for safety (especially for younger children), it is important to have some safety accessories like this protective goggles and of course, parent’s supervision at all times!


These fantastic figures can be purchased in Amazon Safari or at Safari Ltd site.

If your child is into dinosaurs you can also check the following for more ideas:

• Fossils For Kids
• Hands-on Learning on the Types of Fossils
• Play-based Dinosaur Activities for Preschoolers

Happy digging!

PS.  I received this set from Safari Ltd in exchange of an honest review.  Any opinions expressed here are my own.