Reception Aged Children Explore Dinosaurs

The reception classes at Preston Hedges Primary School have been busy studying dinosaurs this term and getting very creative with their dinosaur themed arts and crafts.  The teachers of the two reception classes, Miss White and Mrs Pearce, ably supported by Mrs Luck, Mrs Smith and Mrs Kellingray have been encouraging the budding young palaeontologists to design very colourful dinosaur posters and identify features of their prehistoric animal drawings.

The children are being encouraged to make observations about animals, make comparisons and to use words to describe  different dinosaurs.

Dinosaur Drawings

Abigail’s Dinosaur Drawing with its Labels

A spiky dinosaur.

The children clearly enjoyed drawing the prehistoric animals and labelling them, naming features such as claws, head, tail and tummy.  It seemed that long-necked dinosaurs (sauropods) were the most popular type of dinosaur with a lot of the reception-aged children deciding to draw one of these plant-eaters.  The children have already learned about carnivores and herbivores and they were using such terms with confidence.

Ellie Showcases her Dinosaur Drawing Skills

The stimulating indoor and outdoor classrooms are very well resourced and Alex, the resident dinosaur expert was in his element helping all his classmates learn about dinosaurs.  Harry demonstrated his knowledge of Tyrannosaurus rex teeth by commenting that they were as “big as bananas and shaped like a big banana too” – very impressive.

Sam’s Fearsome Dinosaur

Sam opted to draw a four-legged dinosaur and he and his friends were having fun as they learned.  The teaching team have been building a large model of a long-necked dinosaur.  We have been reliably informed that this dinosaur is going to be called Dave and we have been promised a photograph of the school’s prehistoric creation when the model is finished.

Dinosaur Clay Models

The term topic is certainly proving an excellent framework for developing plenty of numeracy and literacy based learning.  Even aspects of design and technology are being covered.  For example, as well as helping to make the large dinosaur model, the children have sculpted their own clay replica dinosaurs.  This provides the children with the opportunity to explore the properties of different materials and to make comparisons between various types of extinct animals.

The  “Cretaceous Clay Model Collection”

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With plenty of guidance, the young palaeontologists have created quite a collection of different clay models, we referred to them as the “Cretaceous Clay Model Collection” and there are some fascinating interpretations of the Dinosauria, that’s for sure.

Getting Up Close to the Clay Models

The term topic is going down well with the two classes and the enthusiastic teaching team have prepared some intriguing schemes of work to help enrich the children’s learning experience and to permit lots of differentiation.  We look forward to receiving some pictures of Dave – a dinosaur mascot for the school.

To view the range of dinosaur toys, fossil replicas and learning materials available from Everything Dinosaur: Educational Dinosaur Themed Toys and Games.