A Dinosaur Fruit Tray is a fun take on the traditional fruit tray for your Dinosaur-themed party or game night. We’re sharing all the details for making this fruit tray the star of your Dinosaur Party.
Table of contents
Our Dinosaur Fruit Tray was a big hit at my niece’s Three-REX birthday party.
The fruit tray was the perfect complement to the other sweet and savory snacks at the party.
Disclosure – I may get a small commission for purchases made through affiliate links in this post.
🔑 Key to Success #1 – Slice the Fruit
I know the Dinosaur Fruit Tray looks like a lot of work, but it’s really easy with a little bit of pre-planning.
The first step is to cut the fruit.
Strawberries
Remove the stems then slice the strawberries into bite-sized pieces.
You want to cut the strawberries to maximize the amount of red strawberry skin.
I cut my strawberries in half.
Then if they’re still too large, I’ll cut them in half again.
Pineapple
For the pineapple, I buy the packaged pineapple chunks in the produce section of the grocery store.
You can use the canned pineapple chunks if you have some on hand.
Slice the pineapple chunks into a triangle shape.
The pineapple chunks should be larger than the strawberry chunks to provide the proper scale for the scales along the dinosaur’s back and down its tail.
Green Grapes
If you are serving this fruit tray to small children, consider slicing the grapes in half before adding them to the fruit tray.
If the grapes are sliced in half, you will place them on the fruit tray with the skin side up for the most consistent green color.
🔑 Key to Success #2 – Prepare the Sheet Pan
For the fruit tray that you see pictured, I used a jelly roll pan that I covered with food-grade butcher paper.
A standard jelly roll pan is approximately 10×14-inches in size.
You can use a larger pan such as a half-sheet pan if you’d prefer.
I covered the pan with butcher paper simply to make the display more attractive for the Dinosaur Birthday Party.
My goal was to make the fruit tray look more earthy and organic but use something that would not take any emphasis away from the fruit dinosaur.
Secure the butcher paper to the bottom of the tray using a few pieces of scotch tape.
The butcher paper is completely optional, but a tray with a lip is not optional.
The fruit will lose a little bit of juice so you will need a rimmed baking sheet to avoid a mess.
🔑 Key to Success #3 – Start With the Strawberry Dinosaur
When you’re ready to make your fruit tray, start by laying out the dinosaur on the tray.
Using the photo below as a guide, pile the strawberries into a semi-dinosaur shape then refine the dinosaur to bring it to life.
Choose a small round blueberry for the dinosaur’s eye.
Look closely at the blueberry and choose the side that looks most like an eyeball.
Be sure to place two strawberry pieces in a V-shape to look like the dinosaur has an open mouth.
Keep working on your dinosaur until you are happy with the shape.
Finally, place the pineapple triangles along the back and tail of the dinosaur for the scales.
🔑 Key to Success #4 – Use Green Grapes
You must use green grapes and not purple grapes in this fruit tray.
Purple grapes do not have enough color contrast with the strawberries to make the dinosaur stand out.
Place the green grapes around the strawberries in the top half of the fruit tray.
Again, if your grapes are cut in half, be sure to place the grapes with the skin side up on the fruit tray.
Place the blueberries around the bottom half of the strawberry dinosaur to finish off your fruit tray.
📌 Get the Printable Recipe for this Dinosaur Fruit Tray
Save this Dinosaur Fruit Tray recipe to your favorite Dinosaur Party board or your Fun Fruit Trays board.
Easy Dinosaur Fruit Tray
Ingredients
- 1 bunch green seedless grapes
- 1 pound strawberries
- 18 oz blueberries
- 10 oz pineapple chunks
Directions
- Line a rimmed 15X10-inch jelly roll pan or tray with butcher paper.
- Slice the strawberries into bite-sized pieces. Slice the pineapple chunks into triangles.
- Using the photo provided as a guide, arrange the strawberries into the shape of a dinosaur. Make sure you place the strawberries with the red skin side up as much as possible.
- Place the pineapple triangles along the back and tail of the dinosaur making sure that the tips are pointing up.
- Select one small round blueberry and place it for the dinosaur’s eye.
- Spread the remaining blueberries along the bottom half of the dinosaur.
- Arrange the green grapes around the top half of the dinosaur to fill in the remaining space on the tray.
Notes
- If serving this fruit tray to small children, consider cutting the green grapes in half lengthwise. If you do this, place the grapes on the tray with the skin side up.
Equipment
Nutrition Facts
Our Dinosaur Fruit Tray, Dinosaur Bones Pretzels, Chocolate Dinosaur Cake, and Pterodactyl Pizzas are included in the Best Dino DIY Food Art round-up by the international educational publisher, Twinkl. You can see the full list here!
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Kathy
Thursday 12th of January 2023
I made the dinosaur fruit tray for my granddaughters first birthday party. It was cute. I was trying to show you the result but can’t figure out how to submit an image. Oh well. Thx for the perfect tutorial!! 🦕