This month we received an activity set from Parragon Book Buddies. The Dinogami step-by-step guide shows you how to make a herd of origami-style dinosaur models and includes everything you need to create 10 paper dinos. The Dinogami instruction book features 48 pages of colourful instructions, from basic origami folds to complex Velociraptor models. Dinogami is available in all good book stores and is also available to buy online from Amazon (RRP £8.00).
Dinogami is aimed at older children so I tried this with my 8 year old daughter - Abi. To begin with she was really, really keen on this little set. The box is simple yet vibrant and includes 20 folded papers to make 10 miniature dinosaurs. Many of the papers have scaly patterns and funny eyes. Abi was really intrigued as to how we could make these sheets into 'proper' dinosaurs! We sorted out all the papers into the order of the dinosaur instructions in the book. The 10 different dinosaurs seem to range from basic/easy to more complex/difficult. There were a few spare sheets for the first few dinosaurs which were perfect for working through the initial 'easy' folds together.
We started with the first dinosaur, the Pteranodon - a flying dino. This one went well. It is very similar to making a paper chatterbox - which most school age children have made hundreds of times over! The only problem we found with this one, was that the sheets of paper weren't square enough! So folding all of the corners into the centre either left gaps, where white from the reverse side made our green dino resemble a zebra, or some folds doubled over other folds making it hard to separate in later stages! It turned out all of the sheets weren't exactly square! Square sheets or matching colour on the reverse side would have solved this!
Next we moved onto the orange Iguanodon. This is where I was left alone, mid dino! This dinosaur was a step up from the previous model. It needed more accuracy and a lot of trial and error! For the best part of this model, both of us struggled to see what the instructions were showing us. The instruction images were too small to see the the more complex folds and it was often not very clear what the pointing arrow wanted you to do! I finished this one alone and it still didn't look quite right but at least it resembled the Iguanodon - sort of! I decided to stop there. The dinosaurs get more challenging as you go along and it was obvious I would be a lone-rider with this set, so I packed it up and gave Abi the finished models. She was really pleased with them and still has them displayed on her shelves but she hasn't shown any interest in trying this set out again.
Overall this set wasn't for us! It doesn't have an age recommendation on it, and in all honesty I struggled almost as much as my 8 year old. My younger (adult) sister, however, is very keen on dinosaurs and is especially crafty so this set would be perfect for someone like her, who shares an interest in dinosaurs and paper crafts. I have no doubt she will be able to complete the herd, though I think Abi will have to beg her to get them back! I feel the instruction booklet could do with having much larger images and the papers could of done with being perfectly squared or at least double sided. I also felt slightly cheated that the pre-folded dino in the kit didn't come from a full sheet of paper but was cut to shape! All in all though, this kit is colourful, and fun and could provide hours of entertainment... for the right person! Parragon Books have a huge range of excellent children's books, from facts to fiction and even activity books. To find out more about Parragon Books, or to read my previous Bookbuddy reviews, here are the links:
Website: www.parragon.com
Facebook: Parragon Books
Twitter: @parragonbooks
Pinterest: Parragon Books
