Tripping off the Tongue – Dinosaur Names

A number of teachers and learning support providers are using dinosaur names to help young children to appreciate and understand the sounds of words. As dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals seem to be very popular with young children, so these long extinct creatures can prove very helpful when it comes to supporting phonics based teaching.  A three-year-old happily tells us all about their favourite dinosaur, a Stegosaurus, yet the same child struggles to come to terms with the correct pronunciation of the own surname.

Diplodocus Not a Problem to a Budding Fossil Hunter

Why do children love talking about dinosaurs?  This is one of the intriguing questions asked of the Everything Dinosaur teaching team as they prepare to put together more lesson plans and schemes of work aimed at Foundation Stage children.  The ability to say correctly the name Diplodocus (and to correct anyone who does not pronounce the word properly), has been observed by many teachers as well as parents and guardians.  It seems that Diplodocus may not be a problem but saying “daffodil” or “digital” can be quite a challenge to a young palaeontologist.  Even the word “palaeontologist” does not seem to phase them.

Stegosaurus – Helping Children with Their Sentence Construction

A typical teaching resource provided by Everything Dinosaur. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Everything Dinosaur’s experts were not aware of any study being currently undertaken into this specific element of children’s phonics and their grasp of speech.  Research has shown that young children up to the age of seven have an astonishing ability to pick up speech, language skills and enhance their vocabulary.  The sound of the words, particularly if accompanied with a picture of the prehistoric animal might make learning new words and sounds exciting.

Dinosaurs

The longest genus name, Everything Dinosaur’s staff were able to recall is Micropachycephalosaurus (mike-cro-pack-ee-sep-hal-oh-sore-us).  That’s a hefty twenty-three letters long.  Could dinosaur name pronunciation leave a tingle on the tongue?  Certainly, most young children learning about dinosaurs seem to relish and enjoy saying the names of dinosaurs.

There might be a strong sense of achievement after the pronunciation, as for many young children, the names of dinosaurs might be the longest and most complicated words that the child has encountered.  Children could be picking up cues from parents who might be expressing a strong sense of pride as their child says Tyrannosaurus rex, just like an accomplished academic.

Dinosaur Names Help Teachers

A number of parents, learning support providers and home educators have exploited a child’s fascination with dinosaurs to help them with their writing, reading and sentence construction.  If the young pupil loves Stegosaurus, then using this Late Jurassic plant-eating dinosaur in a fun activity to look at how to pronounce words and to get to grips with writing is a bit like pushing at an already open door.

Triceratops Speech Bubble Dinosaur Themed Teaching Aid

Exploring emotions and helping to construct sentences. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Everything Dinosaur provides some handy, free, downloadable, dinosaur themed pronunciation bubble pictures.  These are available from the downloads section of the site along with other helpful teaching resources.

To visit Everything Dinosaur’s website: Everything Dinosaur.

Developing Key Learning Skills – Thanks to Dinosaurs

Children either entering formal education or at an early stage of their careers in school can be helped to develop important skills thanks to dinosaurs.  Many learning support providers are keen to drive a culture of development and achievement, reinforcing key learning skills that will serve the students throughout their education.  Developing learning skills can form part of a coordinated plan to improve life-long learning.

The “Achievosaurs”, or as they are sometimes referred to as the “Achieveosaurs”, aims to teach children about positive ways in which their ability to learn can improved.  Qualities such as being determined and staying focused on a task, being prepared to ask questions and share ideas are rewarded by permitting the child to look after one of the “Achievosaurs” – a dinosaur soft toy which represents a character that shows that key skill.

One of the “Achievosaurs” Dinosaur Soft Toy Ranges

Some of the original “Achievosaurs”.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Soft Toy Dinosaurs

A set of soft toy dinosaurs can be used to help reinforce these key learning skills.  Staff members at Everything Dinosaur, with their teaching backgrounds have assisted learning support providers by offering all sorts of innovative learning materials for use in schools and nurseries.  For instance, a large number of schools use Everything Dinosaur’s soft toys to help deliver the “Achievosaurs” teaching concept.  However, as manufacturers alter their product ranges, so many of the dinosaur soft toys used in the original schemes of work become unavailable.  No worries, as Everything Dinosaur specialises in the supply of prehistoric animal toys and games, our team members are on hand to provide advice and to help teachers develop the “Achievosaurs” teaching concept.

Adopting the “Achievosaurs” Concept

Many schools adopt the “Achievosaurs” concept across all their classes in Early Years and Reception through into upper Key Stage 1, it often ties in with a related term topic covered by the children in Year 1 and 2 which enables them to learn about rocks, fossils and dinosaurs.

Key Learning Skills Typically Covered in the “Achievosaurs” Teaching Concept

• SOLVEOSAURUS REX – I can solve problems and improve (based on T. rex the most famous dinosaur of all)
• TRYCERATOPS – I try new things, don’t give up and work really hard (based on Triceratops, a very well known horned dinosaur with three horns)
• STICKASAURUS  – I stick at tasks and persevere (based on Stegosaurus a popular, plant eating dinosaur with plates on its back)
• THINKODOCUS – I think carefully about what I learn (based on the big, plant-eating dinosaur called Diplodocus)
• SHAREOSAURUS – I share my ideas and can work well with others (based on the Spinosaurus)

To view Everything Dinosaur’s range of prehistoric animal soft toys: Soft Toy Dinosaurs.

Helping young children to develop such important skills for learning later on in life.  Teachers are free to come up with their own variants and new additions, this is where our team members can help, by advising on educational matters and guiding teachers as to their choice of prehistoric animal to represent the particular skill or learning behaviour that they wish to develop with their class.  After all, what five-year-old can refuse the chance to look after their very own soft toy dinosaur?

Children at Foundation Stage Explore Dinosaurs

This spring was a very busy time for Everything Dinosaur team members and the first week of May saw staff helping out at St Elizabeth’s Primary as the Foundation Stage children enjoyed a dinosaur themed workshop as part of their term topic studies.  The eager pupils had been studying fossils and dinosaurs with the help of their teachers Miss Bailey and Mrs Carr.  Part of the classroom had been converted into a “dinosaur museum” and Everything Dinosaur’s dinosaur expert was given a tour of the museum by the children.

Dinosaur Museum

A “Dinosaur Museum” in the Classroom

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Why not Create a Dinosaur Museum in Your Classroom?

Using a space in the classroom to create a special area so that the work can be put on display is a great idea.  Our teaching expert suggested that next to the dinosaur museum, if some cushions could be spread on the floor, this could act as a special reading area to help the children explore books about dinosaurs and to encourage independent learning.

Learning About Dinosaurs

The museum itself was full of super illustrations of dinosaurs, all supervised by Mrs Driver and Mrs Wilson (the teaching assistants).  The young palaeontologists were keen to point out which dinosaurs ate meat and which ate plants.  One even explained what an omnivore was!  It was wonderful to hear how the children had grasped an understanding of the words, carnivore, herbivore and omnivore.

During the school visit, our dinosaur and fossil expert challenged Foundation Stage 2 pupils to produce some dinosaur themed writing.  Perhaps they could include their favourite dinosaur fact, or could they write about their favourite prehistoric animal.  In return, our expert agreed to send the teacher some pictures and further information about ammonites and ammonite fossils that we had examined earlier.

Ammonite Fossils Fascinated the Children

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Children Given a Dinosaur Themed Creative Writing Challenge

As part of Everything Dinosaur’s visit to the school, our dinosaur expert challenged Foundation Stage 2 to create a piece of prehistoric animal themed writing.  Could they write about their favourite dinosaur, pterosaur or prehistoric animal?  Perhaps they could include a dinosaur fact,  could they remember something that the dinosaur expert had said to them and then include this in their writing work?  In return for the prose, Everything Dinosaur’s expert promised (pinkie palaeontologist promise), to email a drawing of an ammonite for the children’s museum along with a fact sheet on these extinct members of the Mollusca phylum.

To view the range of educational, prehistoric animal themed toys available from Everything Dinosaur: Dinosaur Toys and Prehistoric Animal Craft Ideas.

EYFS Children Learn All About Dinosaurs

It looks like it is going to be a very busy month for the teaching team at Everything Dinosaur.  This morning for example, our staff were at St Elizabeth’s Primary School working with Foundation Stage children conducting a series of dinosaur themed workshops.  The children had been studying dinosaurs and thanks to some helpful, free teaching resources from Everything Dinosaur the children had built their very own dinosaur museum in the classroom.

Studying Dinosaurs

EYFS Work on Display in the Classroom Dinosaur Museum

Children create their very own dinosaur exhibition.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur/St Elizabeth’s Primary School

Dinosaur Workshop

The children enjoyed the dinosaur workshop and then we were treated to a conducted tour of their dinosaur museum.   We saw examples of the posters the children had created along with some wonderful clay models and other artworks.  More capable learners had constructed a clock to show the opening and closing times of their museum, so great signs of independent learning.

The class enjoyed the practical fossil handling session and they were very happy to discuss facts about prehistoric animals and to explain the differences between omnivores, herbivores and carnivores.

Setting up a dinosaur museum as part of a term topic is very easy to do, Everything Dinosaur supplies some free downloads and plenty of advice on activities that can be undertaken by this age group.  It certainly has proved to be an inspiring term topic at St Elizabeth’s Primary, our congratulations to all the teaching staff.

To view the range of toys and gifts available from Everything Dinosaur’s award-winning website: Everything Dinosaur.

Early Years Learn All About Dinosaurs

When a team member from Everything Dinosaur visited a Yorkshire school, he got the chance to work with the teaching team over at the nursery. The enthusiastic nursery children loved showing our dinosaur expert their drawings and talking about their favourite dinosaur.  In return, we conducted a short workshop with the class all about how dinosaurs moved and what fossils feel like.  The children and the teaching team were so inspired by what they had done, that in the afternoon the children went into the playground and built their own dinosaur.

Everything Dinosaur

Nursery School Children Construct their own Dinosaur

Nursery school children construct a dinosaur in the playground.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Dinosaur

We had been working with Year 2 and Year 3 children but we were delighted to assist the EYFS teaching team and we were happy to provide lots of exciting extension activities and ideas for them to use with the nursery children.  The dinosaur topic worked well and it was great to see the sensory play area turned into a dinosaur theme park for the day.

To view the range of prehistoric animal themed items available from Everything Dinosaur: Dinosaur Gifts and Prehistoric Animal Toys.

Helping a Reception Class with Writing

Following a dinosaur workshop with class RJ (Reception), team members set the class and their enthusiastic teacher Miss Jones, one of our “pinkie palaeontologist challenges”.  Could the children demonstrate their super writing skills by drafting and writing a letter to Everything Dinosaur following our visit?

Dinosaurs

Although, many of the children had only just turned five, they were keen to get involved and thanks to some group work, supported by the teaching assistant the class was able to work out what should go into the letter, how it should start and the best way to end it.  Sure enough, a few days after we set the challenge, we received a lovely thank you letter from the class.

Everything Dinosaur Receives Letter from Reception

Class RJ’s letter, a lovely thank you letter from the class.

Picture credit: Class RJ

As part of our extension activities agreed with the teaching team after we had visited the school to conduct the dinosaur themed workshop, we naturally sent a reply.  In this way, the children could see how letter writing is compared with using email and other forms of communication.  With the new curriculum likely to place greater emphasis on information technology we were happy to help out and provide further support to the teaching team.

Everything Dinosaur Sent the Class a Reply

Thank you for your kind letter.  Everything Dinosaur replies to a thank you letter sent from a class.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

To see the range of prehistoric animal models and toys available from Everything Dinosaur: Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal Toys and Gifts.

Dinosaurs Help Children with Phonics

Team members at Everything Dinosaur, the UK-based dinosaur toy and model retailers have developed a number of teaching resources to help teachers and home educators.   Many of these resources are available as free downloads on the company’s dedicated teaching site.  Basic word recognition, word sounds and reading skills can be helped by utilising dinosaurs to demonstrate that learning can be fun.  For instance, a speech bubble situated adjacent to a picture of a dinosaur can help young children to consider what third parties might be thinking or saying.  This can also help when educators are exploring concepts such as empathy and feelings.

Dinosaurs Help Young Children

Dinosaurs Help with Phonics

Exploring emotions and helping to construct sentences.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Free Teaching Resources

Many teachers have utilised Everything Dinosaur’s free teaching resources to help children learn using the phonics method.  The long names of dinosaurs can form part of a fun teaching text.  Lots of books about dinosaurs aimed at younger readers, contain helpful pronunciation guides and our team members can always be contacted as they are happy to help out.  The tongue-twisting nature of some dinosaur names can add to the sense of achievement when a name or phrase is said correctly.

With Foundation Stage children, when delivering dinosaur workshops in schools, we are keen to focus on developing an appropriate, diverse vocabulary.  Children like dinosaurs, things to do with the Dinosauria, such as their long names, to a child, can be exciting.  Useful to know when trying to motivate the next generation of readers.

A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur commented that children seemed to have a fascination for dinosaurs and had no trouble pronouncing their long and often complicated names.

To view the range of dinosaur themed toys and games available from Everything Dinosaur: Dinosaur Gifts and Toys.