Educational Activities

Everything Dinosaur’s work with schools and other educational bodies. Articles, features and stories about dinosaurs and their role in education and educating young people.

14 02, 2012

Untangling Dinosaurs – A spot of Paint does the Trick

By Mike|2023-01-28T12:58:08+00:00February 14th, 2012|Categories: Dinosaur Fans, Educational Activities, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates|0 Comments

Preventing Dinosaur Toy Confusion

Children often have friends over to play. With the spring term, half-term holiday Mums and Dads may be glad that chums have come over to help play, anything to keep their young charges occupied. Playing with dinosaur toys can be fun, but when another child brings his or her dinosaurs with them, then this can lead to problems. The prehistoric models can get mixed up, how do you sor them out? How to go about untangling dinosaurs?

Untangling Dinosaurs

Toys tend to get mixed up and even our dinosaur experts cannot tell which dinosaur toy belongs to which child. This can lead to problems, but a suggestion provided by a busy Mum who did not want to have her daughter’s “herd” of dinosaurs mixed up with her friend’s collection may provide the answer.

Taking some water-based paint from one of her daughter’s paint sets, she applied a dab of green paint to the underneath of the dinosaur models. She chose an area on the underside of the toy so that this little spot of paint did not spoil the look of the model. She took care not to obscure any writing on the underside, as sometimes the prehistoric animal’s name is printed on the base or on the tummy of the beastie in question. Now her daughter’s friends can bring over their own dinosaur toys and models without fear of them getting mixed up. All the adults have to do when tidying up is to look at the underside of the toy and identify which is which by the dab of paint.

A Dab of Paint

This simple idea works well, most children have a paint set of some sort and by painting on a colour key, dinosaur toys should not be confused in future. Blue or red works quite well when it comes to choice of colour. Avoid yellow if you can, as often the belly of a dinosaur toy is a light shade and a yellow spot of paint might be more difficult to see.

Sorting Out Prehistoric Animal Models

Dinosaur and prehistoric animal models. Untangling dinosaurs.

Mini dinosaur and prehistoric animal models. If the models get mixed up during play, how do you sort them out?

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

If the child wants to take some dinosaur toys (or indeed any plastic toys), away with them as the family visits relatives then this is fine. The paint job on the underside should ensure that all the child’s toys can be identified and returned home safely without any getting mixed up.

Robust Creative Play

With all the robust, creative play that dinosaur toys can encourage, the use of a spot of paint to help identify which models belong to which budding palaeontologist can save a lot of confusion and prevent tantrums. The only thing that needs to be checked is to make sure that the Mum of the child you are visiting hasn’t had the same good idea. After all, it would be hard to separate two sets of dinosaur toys, with each one having a red blob of paint on the belly – perhaps two dabs of paint is required, just to make sure. Hopefully this little tip will avoid any difficulties when it comes to dinosaur toys for children.

For inexpensive dinosaur models, toys and games, visit Everything Dinosaur’s award-winning website: Dinosaur Toys and Gifts.

9 02, 2012

The Appalling Quality of Some Dinosaur Themed Merchandise

By Mike|2023-01-27T22:19:26+00:00February 9th, 2012|Categories: Dinosaur Fans, Educational Activities, Teaching|1 Comment

Visit to a Trade Show – Guaranteed to Upset Us

One of the saddest sights for us as dedicated teachers and dinosaur enthusiasts is to see inaccurate dinosaur themed merchandise. It is depressing to recall just how many of the prehistoric animal influenced toys, games, books and other products that we come across contain information that at best can be misleading, or at worst entirely wrong.

A recent visit to a trade show in the UK only served to highlight this problem once again. Dinosaurs and other creatures preserved in the fossil record, animals such as the marine reptiles and the pterosaurs are universally popular with children. We use dinosaurs as a teaching topic, helping to motivate young people to learn more about general science, mathematics and history. At Everything Dinosaur, we are far from perfect and we tend not to be too pedantic over binomial conventions and other such matters, but when we come across products on sale to the public which purport to have some educational value, and facts/statements they contain are wrong – it makes us very upset.

Company’s are all too eager to exploit the public’s interest and fascination with dinosaurs. Many firms take great care in how they go about producing merchandise, facts are checked and re-checked, and experts are appointed to oversee the development work, but we encounter examples all the time when perhaps through ignorance or perhaps just because of incompetence, information about prehistoric animals is provided that is just incorrect.

Poor Quality Dinosaur Information

For example, team members went to a trade show recently. Amongst the many hundreds of exhibitors there were a few stands that had dinosaur themed products and merchandise on display. A gift card manufacturer was launching a range of new cards which featured drawings of animals from prehistory. One of the cards featured T. rex. Like many businesses, this particular firm had attempted to provide some information about this famous theropod on the back of the gift card. The attempts have to be commended, helping to provide information, to educate, is important. However, the brief paragraph of information they had provided on the “King of the Tyrant Lizards” contained a number of inaccuracies. Every young, budding palaeontologist knows that the dinosaurs died out approximately sixty-six million years ago. The information on the back of the gift card stated that Tyrannosaurus rex existed around fifty-eight million years ago. The fossil record suggests that this is completely inaccurate.

Sadly, such mistakes are not uncommon, one of these days we will go through our data files and produce a top ten of prehistoric animal themed merchandise blunders, but for the moment we will provide a couple of other examples from our more recent researches.

Poor Quality Dinosaur Information

Triceratops? Not very good quality teaching resources.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Archaeopteryx may be one of the world’s most famous prehistoric creatures. Fossils of this creature with reptilian and avian traits from Upper Jurassic strata have intrigued scientists for over one hundred and fifty years. This “early bird” is the subject of intense research even today, but on numerous occasions we have encountered products that have got the spelling of this famous creature from the fossil record wrong. Letters are missed or even added – such a shame, especially when firms are trying to add credibility to their various products by attempting to provide some information about the prehistoric animals they depict.

Products based around flying reptiles (pterosaurs) are also a happy hunting ground for those of us who spot these “bloopers”. We are going to have to think of a better term to describe such mistakes on dinosaur toys and other items. At the same trade show, we found a product which depicted a pterodactyl. We don’t want to go into the issue surrounding the use of the word “pterodactyl” in this article, we have covered that treacherous ground for the uninitiated when it comes to providing information before, however, the picture of the flying reptile was no Pterodactylus, more like a member of the family Pteranodontidae, except that this creature had some very prominent teeth in its jaws. If the objective was to produce an image of a Pteranodon, something like Pteranodon longiceps, then we think this particular drawing left a lot to be desired.

Whether it is duck-billed dinosaurs with their names spelt incorrectly, members of the tyrannosaur family from the Late Cretaceous with four-fingered hands or indeed a picture of a prehistoric animal in a dinosaur book with the wrong annotation attached to it, all these mistakes and inaccuracies can be avoided.

Many children have a passion for dinosaurs, their enthusiasm for all things prehistoric can provide a platform for them to go on to have a life-long interest in the natural world and science. It is such a shame that there seems to be an increasing amount of inaccurate dinosaur and prehistoric animal themed merchandise available. Some firms seem only too willing to exploit this interest, we do our best to provide support and to help stem the tide.

To view a range of quality prehistoric animal models and figures, all approved by Everything Dinosaur’s teaching team and dinosaur experts: Everything Dinosaur.

5 02, 2012

Tyrannosaurus rex versus Spinosaurus (A New Perspective)

By Mike|2024-04-22T14:25:34+01:00February 5th, 2012|Categories: Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Dinosaur Fans, Educational Activities, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates|12 Comments

Battle of the Killer Giants

This weekend saw Everything Dinosaur team members delivering a series of family themed dinosaur presentations at Liverpool World Museum. One of the prehistoric animal topics covered was an update on the research and study into the spinosaurids. Was for example, Spinosaurus aegyptiacus the biggest theropod known to science, indeed the biggest terrestrial carnivore known in the fossil record?

Tyrannosaurus rex and Spinosaurus

The audience are invited to make up their own minds, if an imaginary battle took place between a Tyrannosaurus and a Spinosaurus. We collated all the votes from the many hundreds of visitors who took part in our workshops, the results from this weekend’s activities are summarised below:

Battle of the Killer Giants T. rex versus S. aegyptiacus

Two heavyweight theropods slug it out.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The audience votes were quite close but when all the information was compiled 54% of the theatre goers who voted thought that T. rex would win in a fight with Spinosaurus compared to 46% who thought that Spinosaurus would come out on top.

To view other survey results from this Everything Dinosaur presentation: Museum Visitors Take Part in Dinosaur Study.

A Replica of a Spinosaurus – A More Modern Interpretation

Wild Safari Dinos Spinosaurus figure (2021).

The award-winning Wild Safari Dinos Spinosaurus figure. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The picture above shows a more interpretation of Spinosaurus by Safari Ltd.

To view the range of Safari Ltd models in stock at Everything Dinosaur: Wild Safari Prehistoric World Replicas.

2 02, 2012

Children with a Dinosaur Obsession – Money saving Tip

By Mike|2023-01-26T22:06:18+00:00February 2nd, 2012|Categories: Educational Activities, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates|0 Comments

A Special Set of Travel Dinosaurs to Avoid Expensive Models getting Lost

Children as young as two years of age can develop an obsession with dinosaurs. Their keen, young minds seem to absorb dinosaur and prehistoric animal information and many young palaeontologists, the next generation of fossil hunters, can reel off the names, sizes and diets of an amazing number of these ancient reptiles. With many schools using dinosaurs in teaching topics to help young children learn to read, improve their numeracy skills and to get an understanding of basic scientific concepts, a child with a healthy interest in dinosaurs can gain a considerable advantage.

One consequence of being a parent, guardian or grandparent of an enthusiastic “dino fan” is that there is a tendency to build up an extensive collection of dinosaur models and toys. Many children’s bedrooms end up resembling a miniature version of a dinosaur theme park, but this is no bad thing as dinosaur toys can help develop imaginative, creative play as well as proving to be an aid to learning at school.

Such is the obsession, especially with young boys, that many dinosaur models are taken literally everywhere by their young owners. This can lead to problems, especially when favourite dinosaur models are taken out of the house and as a result, end up being lost.

One useful money saving tip, that was passed onto me by the Mum of a young child who was obsessed with dinosaurs (child was about three years of age) is to do what you can to ensure that an expensive dinosaur toy is not lost. This particular young boy kept insisting on taking his dinosaurs with him everywhere he went. Inevitably, models would keep getting lost. It can be difficult for an adult to keep track of all the dinosaurs out with their young palaeontologist when heading out to visit relatives or going on a shopping trip. Trying to reduce the number of models being taken can help, even attempting to prevent toys from leaving the house altogether but this can lead to tantrums.

To overcome this problem, and to provide both Mum and son with a “win-win” situation, the Mum set about compiling a special set of “travel” dinosaurs. This was a collection of inexpensive dinosaur models that the boy could take outside and since they were cheap it did not matter a great deal if now and then one of these was lost.

The resourceful Mum got together a collection of cheap, pocket money priced dinosaurs and these became the “outdoor” dinosaurs. The little boy was happy as he had his “special dinosaurs” to take with him and Mum was happy too, not having to keep replacing expensive dinosaur models every few weeks or so.

With a cheap set, the Mum even got into the habit of buying two models at once, but keeping back the duplicate. This way if any of these inexpensive items was lost, it could easily be replaced without too many tears. Keep the expensive dinosaurs for play in the house, cheaper models can become the “travel” dinosaurs for your young dinosaur fans and if one or two are misplaced you don’t have to break the bank replacing them.

Turns out that the set she used was from our party products range – a set of 20 different, inexpensive prehistoric animal models

Potential “travel” dinosaurs and other dinosaur themed toys and gifts: Everything Dinosaur.

A Solution to “Lost Dinosaurs”

Special “travel” dinosaurs.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Using inexpensive dinosaur models for outside play or for taking on trips can save money if any models have to be replaced. After all, it is not too expensive to replace them if any should become extinct!

For inexpensive dinosaur toys and prehistoric animal themed gifts: Dinoaur Toys, Models and Gifts.

29 01, 2012

Helping Teachers with Dinosaur Resources

By Mike|2023-01-26T08:02:57+00:00January 29th, 2012|Categories: Educational Activities, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Everything Dinosaur Products, Teaching|0 Comments

How to Recycle Dinosaur Excavation Kits

At Everything Dinosaur, we get lots of enquiries about dinosaurs and prehistoric animals every day. We try our best to answer every one, passing on information and advice and helping out with general queries. Many teachers contact us, asking for help with lesson plans, ideas on how to go about teaching a dinosaur topic, a dinosaur workshop and so forth. Here again, our qualified teachers in the company are happy to help. We spend a lot of our time advising and helping teachers.

One familiar theme that crops up time and time again is how to get the best out of any dinosaur themed teaching resources. Many schools purchase prehistoric animal excavation kits for use in the classroom. These kits consist of a gypsum block that contains the model of a dinosaur or some such other extinct creature. Children can use these kits to excavate their own dinosaur model.

Recycle Dinosaur Excavation Kits

Of course, once the prehistoric animal has been dug out once, that’s it, but not with Everything Dinosaur. We have produced a short video (four minutes and twenty seconds) that shows teachers, home educators and parents how they can recycle their dinosaur excavation kit or fossil find so that they can be used again and again.

All you need are a few household items and you can recycle your dinosaur excavation kit. We have used these kits in our own teaching work and my own set has lasted ten years and they are still going strong.

Everything Dinosaur’s Video of How to Recycle a Dinosaur Excavation Kit

Everything Dinosaur helps with dinosaur resources for schools.

Video credit: Everything Dinosaur

To view fossil finds, dinosaur excavation kits and other dinosaur themed toys and gifts: Visit Everything Dinosaur.

Helping Teachers

Teachers, parents and home educators can effectively re-use Everything Dinosaur’s fossil finds and prehistoric animal excavation kits. By doing this they can keep teaching costs down, recycling resources for use with different classes.

Fossil Finds, Prehistoric Animal Kits can be Recycled

*Save Money by recycling excavation kits*.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

For large kits, instead of casting the plastic model in a yogurt pot we tend to use a butter tub, or small, plastic ice cream container. It is just simply a case of scaling up to accommodate the larger animal model. We store our kits in plastic bags, with each kit in its own bag. Freezer bags are ideal as they often have a white space on them which you can use to write a label. Keep the excavation tools with the recycled kit for use again when digging out another time. Team members at Everything Dinosaur, even tear off the label from the original packaging and put this in the plastic bag. This provides an extra reference as to which prehistoric animal each kit contains.

By recycling excavation kits such as these teachers, parents and home educators can save money.

To see the extensive range of prehistoric animal excavation kits and other learning resources available from Everything Dinosaur’s award-winning website: Dinosaur Excavation Kits and Learning Resources.

11 01, 2012

New Google Doodle Commemorates Nicolas Steno

By Mike|2024-04-22T14:02:54+01:00January 11th, 2012|Categories: Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Educational Activities|0 Comments

Remembering One of the “Fathers of Modern Geology”

Google has commemorated the date regarded by many academics as the birthday of one of the “fathers of modern geology” Nicolas Steno by creating a stratigraphic “google doodle” which is being displayed as the main icon on the google home page. It may have been the likes of Charles Darwin and Georges-Louis de Buffon that are better known when it comes to Europeans that have influenced the nascent sciences of palaeontology and geology but the contribution made by this Danish academic and member of the Catholic church in the 17th century cannot be underestimated.

Nicolaus Steno, referred to in Denmark as Niels Stensen, was born 374 years ago today (based on accepted data regarding his actual date of birth). He lived by the principle that a person should try to investigate the world around them and not simply accept what was written down by others. His, at the time, controversial views were to lead to disagreements and conflict amongst other scientists and the church. The conclusions made by Stenos in the course of his life were to challenge the accepted religious doctrine.

Nicolas Steno

Born in Copenhagen (Denmark) in 1638, as a young man he had the opportunity to travel widely throughout Europe. His inquiring mind and meticulous observations led him to investigate a very broad range of scientific subjects. For example, he studied human anatomy and helped to improve medical knowledge. However, he is perhaps best remembered for his written texts on how layers of sedimentary rock are formed. He openly challenged the established religious doctrine regarding how old the Earth was and how it was formed. His published work helped to lay the foundation for the modern science of geology and he is often referred to as “one of the founders of modern geology”.

The Google Doodle – Celebrating the Birth of Nicolas Steno

Remembering the contribution of Nicolas Stenos.

Picture credit: Google

Layers of Rock

The clever doodle is split into the six google letters with each letter being made up of layers of rock. The different colours of the layers and the fossils in them hint at one of the main tenets of the work of Steno, that layers are laid down in sequence and bizarre objects found in some of these layers such as “tongue stones” are actually the remains of long-dead animals that have been turned to stone (fossilised).

Other scientists in the 17th century, thought that these strange objects we now identify as fossils, simply grew in rock formations. Nicolaus Steno was not the first academic to consider fossil material but he made an invaluable contribution to the foundation of geology and established a fundamental principle of stratigraphy (study of rock layers) – that in most cases younger rocks can be found on top of older rocks.

Younger rocks on top of older rocks is the abiding principle of the Law of Superposition, it was Nicolaus Steno who first formulated this law of geology and it is great to see google remembering this important European scientist.

To purchase highly-accurate models of iconic animals from the fossil record like ammonites and trilobites: Toys and Models to Help Learn About Prehistoric Life.

28 11, 2011

Turiasaurus – The Largest European Dinosaur Known?

By Mike|2023-01-24T15:05:58+00:00November 28th, 2011|Categories: Educational Activities|0 Comments

Tricky Question – What is the biggest Dinosaur known from Europe?

Team members at Everything Dinosaur are used to fielding lots of dinosaur related questions. Every day we receive letters, emails and even faxes with prehistoric puzzlers on them. We try to answer them all as best we can, but sometimes a question can pose some problems such as the one we received from a primary school recently related to dinosaurs and geography.

Everything Dinosaur – Answering Questions and Providing Information

A group of Key Stage II students and their teacher had been working on a dinosaur topic for the latter part of the Christmas term. As part of the scheme of work the teacher and her class had prepared a map of the world as it looks today, but placed dinosaurs on the map to indicate where fossils of these creatures had been found. This chart was then put on the classroom wall, making up part of their dinosaur themed display. Stegosaurus and T. rex were placed in North America, Edmontonia in Canada, Microraptor in China and so on. However, from this project a number of questions were raised by the children. By referring to reference books and such like, the class was able to answer most of the conundrums that had been posed. However, for some of the more tricky ones they turned to the experts at Everything Dinosaur for help.

Biggest European Dinosaur

When looking a European dinosaurs, the children wanted to know the name of the largest dinosaur found to date, on that continent. This led to quite a debate amongst our team members, but after a discussion we agreed that we should put forward the sauropod Turiasaurus (pronounced Tur-ee-oh-sore-us), a dinosaur whose fragmentary fossils were found in Spain in 2006. Although only a few fossils were found the 1.8 metre long humerus (upper arm bone) indicates a colossal creature, perhaps more than 35 metres long. Scientists are uncertain as to whether this animal was a diplodocid like Apatosaurus or a member of the Macronaria like Brachiosaurus, or perhaps it represents an entirely different type of long-necked dinosaur, but it may have weighed as much as eight fully-grown African elephants.

Giant Sauropods Tend to Dwarf other Dinosaur Skeletons

A sauropod (diplodocid) skeleton exhibit on display at the Frankfurt Natural History Museum (Naturmuseum Senckenberg). Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur. The biggest dinosaur from Europe was a member of the Sauropoda. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

We think that Turiasaurus would be a contender for the title of Europe’s largest dinosaur discovered to date. One of the problems with palaeontology, is that it is always moving forward. New discoveries can turn accepted doctrine and theory upside down and whilst the public might get excited about the biggest or the fiercest dinosaurs, only a small portion or the overall research undertaken by scientists is dedicated to answering these specific questions.

For models of sauropod dinosaurs, as well as replicas of other giant European dinosaurs: Prehistoric Animal and Dinosaur Models.

22 11, 2011

World Museum (Liverpool) Visitors Take Part in Dinosaur Study

By Mike|2023-03-08T14:05:07+00:00November 22nd, 2011|Categories: Dinosaur Fans, Educational Activities, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Press Releases|2 Comments

Visitors Cast their Votes in Battle of the Giant Killers (T. rex versus Spinosaurus)

Visitors to the Liverpool World Museum have been able to participate in a unique study conducted by members of the Everything Dinosaur team, aimed at deciding whether T. rex or Spinosaurus was the most dangerous, large, meat-eating dinosaur of the Late Cretaceous.

Everything Dinosaur staff have been conducting a series of weekend presentations, all part of the exciting dinosaur themed activities currently taking place at the museum to coincide with the “Age of the Dinosaur” exhibition which is just one of the many dinosaur themed attractions at this city centre location.

Meet a Baby Iguanodon at the Liverpool World Museum

Amazing dinosaurs to meet at the Liverpool World Museum.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

In one of the presentations, entitled “Battle of the Giant Killers”, audiences are asked to vote on who would win in a fight between a Spinosaurus and a Tyrannosaurus rex. With lots of young dinosaur fans and their mums and dads sitting down to watch the recent BBC television series “Planet Dinosaur”, Spinosaurus has once again risen to prominence.

Spinosaurus appears in the first episode of this series – “Lost World” and it is described as the biggest ever land predator, but could it win a fight with a T. rex? In a re-run of the Jurassic Park III encounter, Everything Dinosaur’s experts presented the fossil evidence relating to Spinosaurus (Spinosaurus aegyptiacus and nomen dubium S. maroccansus) and compared/contrasted the fossil material with what has been discovered about “the King of the Tyrant Lizards”.

Battle of the Killer Giants!

An imaginary encounter between these dinosaurs.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Battle of the Giant Killers

The team members provided a “tale of the tape” so visitors could weigh up the contenders and vote on who might win an imaginary fight between these large theropods separated by some thirty million years of evolution (and a few thousand miles to boot). The audience at each show, which took place in the museum’s Treasure House theatre, was then asked to cast their vote based on this information and for the rest of the show the actual fossil evidence was explored with the help of lots of keen volunteers and budding young palaeontologists.

Stromer’s story and the Egyptian discoveries, lost fossils, Moroccan finds, the Kem Kem Formation – all these areas and more were discussed in the fifty minute show. There were even a couple of tigers thrown in for good measure.

After all the teeth, claws, fossil bones, brain endocasts etc. had been thoroughly explored, each theatre audience was asked to vote again to see if they had altered their view based on an understanding of the actual fossil evidence.

A spokesperson for Everything Dinosaur commented:

“Such a confrontation between these two dinosaurs, never happened, however, these two different theropods give us the opportunity to introduce some important scientific concepts to members of the public. There is no doubt that the big predators capture the public’s imagination and if we can use the likes of T. rex and Spinosaurus to inform and educate then this has to be a good thing.”

The Result of the Initial Vote

T. rex v Spinosaurus – The First Vote.

Graph credit: Everything Dinosaur

The initial vote was very much in favour of “Spine Lizard” coming out on top in an encounter between these super heavyweights. Sixty-one percent of the audience attending the Everything Dinosaur shows thought that Spinosaurus would win. This is not entirely surprising given this particular dinosaurs high profile at the moment after the popular BBC television series.

T. rex versus Spinosaurus

However, once the fossil data was explored the view of the audience changed dramatically. By the end of each presentation, with all the available evidence presented; the vote swung dramatically in favour of the “King of the Tyrant Lizards”. Interestingly, the second vote cumulatively, and after rounding was a mirror image of the first vote.

The Result of the Second Vote – After the Evidence

T. rex versus Spinosaurus.

Graph credit: Everything Dinosaur

Whether it was the T. rex jaws, the differences in the teeth, or perhaps the evidence to suggest that Spinosaurs were specialised fish eaters, it seems that there was a big swing towards the T. rex. This might be explained by the paucity of the Spinosaurus fossil record compared to the tyrannosaurs, certainly, the loss of the Egyptian material (holotype) prevents firm conclusions being drawn regarding the spinosaurs in North Africa. This will probably change as more fossils are discovered.

For further information on Liverpool World Museum’s dinosaur themed events and activities, visit the Museum’s website.

However, for the time being it looks like based on the fossil evidence as presented by Everything Dinosaur, T. rex holds sway. Now all we need to do is to introduce the likes of Saurophaganax, Carcharodontosaurus, Giganotosaurus, Acrocanthosaurus and Mapusaurus into the fray. Perhaps another time…

To view models and replicas of giant theropods such as Spinosaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex: Papo Dinosaur Models and Figures.

13 11, 2011

Thank you from a Primary School – What Kind Comments

By Mike|2024-04-22T12:04:29+01:00November 13th, 2011|Categories: Educational Activities, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates|0 Comments

We Appreciate the Letter from a School

After one of our Everything Dinosaur team members visited a primary school the other day to help the young pupils with their dinosaur topic which they have been studying for the term, we received a lovely thank you letter from the children and their teacher. The children signed the letter and explained which parts of our teaching session they enjoyed the most. Clementine thought that learning about new dinosaur facts was the best bit, whilst Freya was surprised at the size of the ammonites we brought with us. Niamh, Lukas and Oliver were really excited when the fossil teeth they helped to make came out of the mould OK.

For replicas of dinosaur teeth and models of iconic animals from the fossil record, such as trilobites, ammonites and belemnites: Learning About Dinosaurs – Models and Toys.

The Letter from the Children

School thank you letter signed by the children.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur/Holne Chase Primary School

Everything Dinosaur

It is always a pleasure to hear from schools that we have worked with, glad we were able to help the young dinosaur fans with their studies with a visit from Everything Dinosaur to teach about dinosaurs in schools.

A spokesperson from the UK-based company commented:

“Our thanks to the teaching team and all the pupils for taking the trouble to send into us a wonderful thank you letter. We are glad that everyone enjoyed the dinosaur workshop.”

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

8 11, 2011

Young Palaeontologists Make Their Mark at School

By Mike|2023-01-23T13:52:33+00:00November 8th, 2011|Categories: Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal Drawings, Dinosaur Fans, Educational Activities|0 Comments

Staveley Primary School’s Young Dinosaur Fans

Pupils at Staveley Community Primary and Nursery School (North Yorkshire) got the chance to get up close to Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops this week, when one of our team members came to visit Class 2 (year 1/reception) as part of the school’s teaching topic on dinosaurs. After a morning of dinosaur themed activities and looking at fossils, helped by Mrs Lilley and Miss Richardson, the class was given the opportunity by their teacher Mrs Moss to design their very own dinosaur.

Young Palaeontologists

We were very kindly sent some examples of the children’s work and what an amazing mixture of prehistoric animals the pupils created. Daniel sent us a drawing of his fearsome “Spikeosaurus”, Anna did a drawing of “Spottyosaurus” both dinosaurs were aptly named as we don’t think we have ever seen such a spiky dinosaur as Daniel’s, or indeed one as spotty as the one in Anna’s picture. Reuben created his own version of Microraptor giving us “blooasaurus” a big crest of blue feathers and a pair of very large wings, whilst William drew a “Belly-a-saurus” explaining that this particular bright red beastie was so called as it had a very big belly. Finlay who along with Alex and Finlay2 had helped to cast a Velociraptor claw for the school’s dinosaur museum, provided us with a bright yellow “Finlayosaurus”, a sort of five-legged, daffodil coloured Stegosaurus-like creature, certainly one of the most colourful dinosaur drawings we have received in a long while.

Some of the Dinosaur Drawings Created by Class 2

Some of the amazing dinosaur pictures from Class 2.

Picture credit: Staveley Primary School

The girls in the office were particularly keen on Joe’s “Chocolate-oh-saurus”, combining two of their favourite things – chocolate and dinosaurs. Team members also liked Max’s two-headed, long-necked dinosaur, what a monster, but perhaps the scariest looking of all was the drawing created by Maxine – were not sure how to pronounce the name of her ferocious looking prehistoric animal, we think it is something like “Mon-tee-tee-ex-tre-rex”.

A Dinosaur Museum

The children and their teachers have created their own dinosaur museum to exhibit their work and fossils that the children have found on their holidays. All part of the term topic involving teaching about dinosaurs and fossils in schools.

The Dinosaur Museum Created by the Class

The pupil’s very own dinosaur museum.

Picture credit: Staveley Primary School

The museum contains lots of amazing objects that the pupils have collected, including the cast of the Velociraptor killing claw and the data sheet that Everything Dinosaur provided them with during the visit. This fossil was cast by three volunteers from the class.

The Dinosaur Museum is Full of Fascinating Exhibits

Lots of fossils that the pupils have found.

Picture credit: Staveley Primary School

We have pinned up all the illustrations onto our notice board in the warehouse, they make us smile when we walk past them. Our thanks to all the budding palaeontologists who helped with the experiments on the day and to those pupils who drew the dinosaur pictures for us.

For replicas of iconic animals from the fossil record including ammonites and trilobites as well as other prehistoric animal figures: Prehistoric Life Models (CollectA Figures).