All about dinosaurs, fossils and prehistoric animals by Everything Dinosaur team members.
25 02, 2018

Understanding and Exploring Feelings (PSHE)

By |2023-09-16T17:34:05+01:00February 25th, 2018|Early Years Foundation Reception|Comments Off on Understanding and Exploring Feelings (PSHE)

Understanding and Exploring Feelings PSHE with EYFS

Dinosaurs can help young children explore their feelings.

A key aspect of teaching for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is to help the children develop key life skills, one of the principle frameworks for achieving this is through the PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education), portion of the curriculum.

Learning About Dinosaurs

In many schools, a topic involving learning about dinosaurs forms part of the scheme of work for Nursery and Reception.  Children as young as three years of age can show remarkable pre-knowledge when it comes to dinosaurs and prehistoric animals and with giants like Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops to study, the children tend to be very enthusiastic learners.  Dinosaurs as a topic can help children to build strong relationships and to manage their emotions, a dinosaur drawing can prove an effective teaching resource, assisting in the exploration of ideas such as your feelings, the feelings of others and exploring empathy.

Learning About Feelings/Thinking of Others

Dinosaurs and describing words.
A dinosaur themed exercise helping children to develop their use of adjectives. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Dinosaur Workshops

When delivering dinosaur workshops to Foundation Stage children, our experts provide a number of additional resources.  For example, the picture above shows a Triceratops with a speech bubble.  The children are asked to see if they can work out what the dinosaur might be saying.  This exercise provides valuable hand to eye co-ordination when it comes to holding a pencil and tests motor skills.  It also helps the child to think about the feelings of others.

What Might Triceratops be Saying?

Triceratops helps with speech development.
Exploring emotions and helping to construct sentences. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

These simple sheets that we provide utilise some of our detailed dinosaur illustrations and permit the teaching team to explore feelings using topic appropriate resources.  At Foundation Stage, the teaching team are tasked with a number of responsibilities towards ongoing provision to support personal and emotional development.

Visit the Everything Dinosaur website: Everything Dinosaur.

A dinosaur topic provides, numerous opportunities for children to explore and understand their feelings and the feelings of others.  The teacher or teaching assistant can explore ideas such as is the dinosaur happy/sad?  What would it say if it was sad?  How might you (the child), act to help the dinosaur to stop from feeling sad?

These resources along with the other extension materials provided by Everything Dinosaur enable the Foundation Stage teaching team to develop clear, planned aspects of the curriculum that allow the children to explore feelings and emotions.

 For further information about Everything Dinosaur’s outreach work: Email Everything Dinosaur.

25 02, 2018

A Trio of Achillobators by Zhao Chuang

By |2023-08-30T15:55:39+01:00February 25th, 2018|Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal Drawings, Dinosaur Fans, Main Page|0 Comments

Achillobator Flock by Zhao Chuang

The talented palaeoartist Zhao Chuang might be renowned for his stunning colour landscapes depicting various prehistoric animals but the Chinese-based artist has also produced a number of line drawings too.  Today, we showcase one of his lesser known illustrations, a black and white study of the large, Mongolian dromaeosaurid Achillobator (Achillobator giganticus).

Deadly, Dangerous Dinosaurs – A Trio a Achillobators on the Prowl

Achillobator illustrated.
An illustration of a flock of Achillobator dinosaurs by Zhao Chuang.

Picture credit: Zhao Chuang

Achillobator giganticus

Fossils found in 1983, were formally described in 1999 and the genus name – Achillobator was erected.  The name translates as “giant Achilles hero”, this five to six-metre-long dinosaur getting its name because the foot bones show evidence of particularly robust Achilles tendons.  Known from fragmentary fossil material, which includes part of the upper jaw, this dinosaur would have been a very formidable predator.  Although Zhao Chuang has chosen not to add feathers in his illustration, he has managed to convey an impression of danger and ferocity in his artwork.  Achillobator would have been an apex predator within its environment and a pack of these hungry super-sized “raptors” would have been a blood curdling sight.

View PNSO dinosaur models and figures: PNSO Age of Dinosaurs Models.

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