All about dinosaurs, fossils and prehistoric animals by Everything Dinosaur team members.
10 04, 2017

Jurassic Park III Diorama Completed

By |2023-06-15T06:56:39+01:00April 10th, 2017|Dinosaur Fans, Main Page|0 Comments

Jurassic Park III Diorama Completed

Time for an update on the super-sized dinosaur diorama being built by enthusiastic model fan Robert Townsend.  The project has now been completed and “Jurassic Park III” as the prehistoric landscape has been called, is nearly ready to be populated with dinosaurs.  Robert explains that the name for his project has nothing to do with the 2001 movie, after all, there are no buildings, fences, vehicles, crashed aircraft or humans in it.  However, just like the island Isla Sorna, the setting for the third film in the “Jurassic Park” franchise, the area is going to home to a variety of prehistoric creatures. It is a superb dinosaur diorama.

Dinosaur Diorama Takes Shape

Dinosaur diorama planting.

The CollectA Palm Tree model helps to add height to the vegetation.

Picture credit: Robert Townsend

Dinosaur Diorama

Robert has carefully planned out his planting to provide various points of interest for the viewer.  The picture above shows the waterhole area, a place where many animals would naturally congregate.

For prehistoric plants and other prehistoric figures ideal for dinosaur dioramas: CollectA Prehistoric Life Figures.

A View of the Prehistoric Landscape (left side of the model)

A well-planned prehistoric scene.

A view of the diorama looking down the left side of the large model.

Picture credit: Robert Townsend

The picture above shows the remarkable precision of the placing of the vegetation and other landscaping features such as the tridactyl (three-toed) dinosaur footprints that can be seen on the left of the photograph.

Model maker Robert commented:

“All that remains to be done is to design and paint some sort of suitable background on a large piece of card in order to complete the illusion”.

Prehistoric Planting and Painting Skills

For those model makers who are a little uncertain of their painting skills, many suitable backgrounds can be purchased from model railway shops, or why not try a pet shop?  The backgrounds sold to fit into tropical fish takes, especially those depicting lots of rocks can make ideal backdrops to a prehistoric landscape.

A View Down the Right-hand Side of the Diorama

Dinosaur nests including in the model landscape

A view along the right-hand side of the model. Can you see the dinosaur nests?

Picture credit: Robert Townsend

In the foreground (picture above), the model maker has moulded some dinosaur nests, again an opportunity to highlight different mini-scenarios within the larger landscape.  The CollectA Monathesia and Cycads (left) and the CollectA Williamsonia (right) model plants blend in well with the range of hand-crafted prehistoric foliage that Robert has added.  The two dinosaur nests, close to the board’s edge were the very last landscape features to be constructed.

For CollectA scale models: CollectA Deluxe Prehistoric Figures.

A View of the Planting Around the Dinosaur Diorama Waterhole

Dinosaur diorama waterhole.

The waterhole feature in the prehistoric landscape.

Picture credit: Robert Townsend

Everything Dinosaur has been promised some more pictures.  When a suitable backdrop has been created and attached to the rear and the sides of the giant diorama, Robert says he will email over some more photographs.

It is a very impressive prehistoric landscape.  Our congratulations to Robert and we wonder whether anyone else has built a bigger dinosaur model diorama?

For other helpful items to help with diorama building visit: Everything Dinosaur.

10 04, 2017

Stone Age Cave Paintings

By |2023-06-14T06:48:10+01:00April 10th, 2017|General Teaching, Key Stage 1/2|Comments Off on Stone Age Cave Paintings

“Stone Age to Bronze Age”

Teaching about history to lower key stage two pupils can be quite a challenge for educationalists.  Sometimes it can be difficult to engage and enthuse children, especially with a fact heavy topic such as the “Stone Age to the Bronze Age” area of the national curriculum.  It can also be quite difficult to identify ways in which the subject can provide “touchstone” opportunities to interact with other aspects of the curriculum – to provide cross curricular extensions for the teaching team to implement.

Over the last few days we have seen some excellent examples of this subject area interacting with art and design elements.  Palaeolithic art, cave paintings (also known as parietal art), links in with this topic area providing a historical context for exploring ideas such as concept art, expressionism and how ancient tribes interacted with nature.  It can also give teachers the opportunity to introduce new painting techniques to the children.

Year 3 Children Create Parietal Art (Cave Paintings)

Cave art from schoolchildren.

A wonderful example of cave art from school children from Bowlee Community Primary. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Cave Art Teaching Resources

Here are some articles on parietal art, that can help teachers with this term topic.

Indonesian Cave Paintings Change Ideas About the Origin of Art – Exploring the origins of human culture.

Cave Women Played an Important Role in Cave Art – The role of women in early societies.

Famous Cave Paintings Threatened by Pollution – The effect of pollution on ancient cave paintings.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s user-friendly website: Everything Dinosaur.

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