Year 1 and Reception Enjoy Learning About Dinosaurs

Children at Hambleton C of E Primary School had an exciting day learning all about dinosaurs and fossils as one of our dinosaur experts visited their school.  Year 1 have been studying dinosaurs for their science topic this term and the budding young palaeontologists had prepared a list of questions.  Answers were provided during the dinosaur workshop.  Questions asked included how did the dinosaurs become extinct?  What colour were dinosaurs?  Which was the biggest dinosaur of all?

Year 1 Had Prepared Questions all About Dinosaurs

Preparing questions about dinosaurs. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Science Topic Dinosaurs

The children wanted to know all about Tyrannosaurus rex, Finlay asked how long did T. rex live for?  That’s an excellent question and one that was that not answered during the morning of dinosaur and fossil themed activities.  Like most animals, few tyrannosaurs made it into adulthood.  Predation, disease, parasites, starvation and injuries would have all placed a heavy toll on a given population of these meat-eating, theropods.  However, if a T. rex did survive into adulthood, then we estimate that it might have lived for some thirty years or so.  Calculating just how long a Tyrannosaurus rex lived is quite a tricky task, however, a number of studies have been published looking into the growth rates and potential life spans of the Dinosauria.

Here is a link to an article we published a few years ago that compared the growth rates of tyrannosaurs and their potential prey (duck-billed dinosaurs): Duck-Billed Dinosaurs Grew Up Fast to Avoid Being Eaten.

We certainly had some amazing questions from the Year 1 children.

Reception Class Has a Dinosaur Day

The enthusiastic prehistoric animal fans in Reception class had a dinosaur day to coincide with Everything Dinosaur’s visit.  Mrs Parkin and Mrs Bingham had prepared lots of themed activities and some of the children had brought in dinosaur toys from home. Whilst the Reception class waited for a “dinosaur egg” to hatch they set about building their very own prehistoric playground for the dinosaurs.  Our expert was shown where the dinosaurs could hide in the cave and where the river was so that the dinosaurs could have a drink and go for a swim if they wanted to.  It was great to see such imaginative, creative play.  The children were certainly engaged with the topic.

Reception Class Build a Playground for their Dinosaurs

A habitat for dinosaurs. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

We explored some of the vocabulary associated with animals and what they ate.  In addition, whilst building the dinosaur habitat, the children were learning about the resources that living things require to keep them alive.  One of the favourite parts of the dinosaur workshop was when the children got the chance to engage in role play, reproducing behaviours and pretending to be huge, herbivores.

To visit Everything Dinosaur’s award-winning website: Everything Dinosaur.