I won't be seeing them at Christmas as Princess One is expecting another baby and doesn't want to travel so I took Princess Two up and we spent a few days and celebrated Christmas with them.
For one activity, I purchased a dinosaur excavation kit. They bury plastic dinosaur snap together bones from different dinosaurs in plaster and sell the kit with a hammer, a screw driver, safety goggles and a brush.
Princess One lives near some dinosaur sites and so the kids get super excited about dinosaurs and once Grand-Princess-One knew I had it, she kept asking to do it.
Her little brother is into everything and is so quick and observant that he wants everything and throws fits if he can't have them. He can't speak yet as he is not quite 18 months (see his arrival post here) and so he gets frustrated not being able to communicate.
To show how observant and smart he is, he signed in sign language many, many times while I was there. He signed he needed to use the bathroom and did tinkles and poops on the potty. He usually will let you know once he has done the deed as he wants his diaper changed but I told them that if he knows enough to want a diaper change, he is smart enough to potty train. Three times he made it to the potty to go in the potty. The others, he had just finished going but for a 17 month old, that is amazing. With his quickness to join the activities and get into everything, we waited until he was napping and then went to work. I hit the cement about three times with the hammer that came with the kit and the head of the hammer broke off.
Their tools were in the shed with three locks on it so Princess One suggested a knife handle. I got so frustrated that I took the entire block and threw it on the cement as Grand Princess couldn't get the bones out and we had a limited time.
Once I broke it into smaller pieces, I could use the back of the knife to break pieces off and she would use the screwdriver supplied and twist it into the little loose pieces and break them off.
It made a large amount of cement dust and I was going to clean after that anyway so I didn't worry much about a bit of a mess but the cement dust was a bit toxic so I had to open a window and it was cold. I would suggest that you do this in the summer OUTSIDE and make sure you have your own hammer and chisels to do this. 
Grand-Princess had a blast and had fun but after we finished getting it out of the cement, we washed the bones and then put them together but there was something wrong with the way the legs attached and I got REALLY frustrated saying "This design is so stupid!" and Grand-Princess then said something similar to which her mother got upset saying, "We don't use the word "Stupid"" and then I had to watch my mouth. 
Then, Prince One who is an engineer tried to figure it out and ended up breaking the piece in the center that holds the legs as I was about to do the same thing. It is sad that two educated people couldn't figure it out so I don't know if it is a design flaw but in the end, I used a white pipe cleaner to wire the legs on which worked well but it was still sad that I had to do that. 
For the $20 plus they charge for the kit, it would be nice to have it go together a bit smoother but I know someone actually did this making their own kits using plaster and dollar store dinosaurs toys. They made them in small bread loaf pans and several of my girls "dug" and excavated for their toys. 
It may be better for smaller children to do something like that which doesn't cost as much, doesn't include assembly and you can bury what you want. In the end, she was adorable with it and it was fun activity for a few hours when her brother was sleeping. I LOVED spending time with them. I wish they lived a bit closer so I could enjoy them more. They are the joy of my world along with my own kids!
I am truly blessed and hope you have a Blessed Day!
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