Children at Broom Valley Community School Study Dinosaurs

The children in Foundation Stage 2 at Broom Valley Community School (South Yorkshire), have been getting to grips with prehistoric animals as they have been studying dinosaurs this term.  The two classes, Kangaroos and Badgers, had a visit from “Dino Mike” of Everything Dinosaur, he showed them real fossils which helped to explain just how big some dinosaurs could be.  With the help of the enthusiastic teaching team, the budding young palaeontologists have been taking part in lots of creative and fun activities all geared towards helping them develop confidence with numeracy and literacy.

Let’s Explore Dinosaurs

Lots of Colourful Prehistoric Animals on Display to Inspire the Children

Plenty of prehistoric animals on display.

Picture credit: Broom Valley Community Primary School/Everything Dinosaur

Dinosaur Workshop Activities

During the workshops, the class teachers Miss Priddle (Kangaroos) and Mrs Reilly (Badgers) were encouraged to take lots of photographs of the activities.  These pictures can then be used to assist the children with a recount/recall activity to support learning.  To help the children gain an understanding of what it is like to dig for dinosaur bones, a corner of one of the classrooms had been turned into a dinosaur dig site.  A member of the teaching team had made some salt dough dinosaur bones over the weekend and with the brushes and magnifying glasses at the ready, we are sure the children will have a super time excavating all the dinosaur bones.

Going on a Classroom Dinosaur Dig

A super hands on activity for FS2.

Picture credit: Broom Valley Community Primary School/Everything Dinosaur

It is great to see such imaginative ideas being used in school to help enthuse and engage children.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s website: Everything Dinosaur.

If you don’t have time to make the salt dough bones, dog owners might like to take a look at any dog biscuits they have around the house for their pet.  There are usually a number of bone shaped biscuits in the packet and these make excellent “dinosaur fossils” for children to dig up and explore.

Dinosaur Workshop Extension Ideas

As part of the visit, the team member from Everything Dinosaur provided a number of additional teaching resources and ideas to help support the term topic.  From an exercise comparing and measuring dinosaur footprints to information on a newly discovered dinosaur that is going to feature in a forthcoming BBC television documentary.  Naturally, we were also happy to send over some drawing materials for the children.  We challenged Badgers and Kangaroos to have a go at labelling the drawings.  Could they name the various parts of an Ankylosaurus or a Tyrannosaurus rex?

Could the young scientists think of suitable describing words to include on their drawings?  We certainly had plenty of describing words when we looked at the jaw bones of a Triceratops, the children came up with a most impressive list – gigantic, massive, huge, giant – well done Kangaroos and Badgers!

A Challenge to Label a Dinosaur Drawing

Use dinosaurs to help children develop their vocabulary.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur