Teaching - Part 31

Everything Dinosaur team members working in schools, helping museums and other educational bodies. Our work with and in schools.

6 03, 2017

Abbey Hey Primary Pupils Imagine Remarkable Prehistoric Animals

By Mike|2024-05-07T13:40:02+01:00March 6th, 2017|Categories: Educational Activities, Main Page, Teaching|0 Comments

Year 1 Design Dinosaurs

Last month, a member of the Everything Dinosaur team visited Abbey Hey Primary Academy to work with the Year 1 classes as they studied dinosaurs and fossils. During our dinosaur and prehistoric animal themed workshop, we challenged the eager, junior palaeontologists to have a go at designing their very own dinosaur. The dedicated teachers kindly sent us a set of the children’s drawings and dinosaur designs and what a wonderful display they make.

Year 1 Children at Abbey Hey Primary Academy Design Dinosaurs

Amazing imaginary dinosaur drawings from Year 1,

Year 1 produced some amazing imaginary dinosaur drawings.

Picture credit: Year 1 (Abbey Hey Primary Academy/Everything Dinosaur)

We laid out all the colourful dinosaur designs on the floor of our warehouse. Once we had carefully sorted them and laid them out we took a photograph (see above). We can’t wait to pin them all up onto our warehouse notice board.

Thinking of a Name for Your Dinosaur

As part of a series of carefully thought out extension activities, our dinosaur expert challenged the children to label their dinosaur’s body parts. Once they had done this, could they think of a suitable name for their prehistoric animal? We received lots of lovely examples, with some super labelling, well done Year 1! The names the children came up with were very imaginative also, we loved Madison’s purple “Maddisonodon” (see below) for example.

A Very Purple Dinosaur by Madison

A long-necked, purple dinosaur.

Picture credit: Madison in Year 1 at Abbey Hey Primary Academy/Everything Dinosaur

Fabulous Prehistoric Animals

In addition, we had a long-necked dinosaur called “Indiaraptor“, spiky dinosaurs, and a scary looking “Levirex“, what super prehistoric animal names!

Flying reptiles were also included in the extension activity and we received some very colourful pictures of pterosaurs (flying reptiles), all with lovely labelling.

To learn more about Everything Dinosaur’s science outreach work: Email Everything Dinosaur.

A Very Carefully Drawn and Labelled Flying Reptile

Children create imaginary prehistoric animals.

A “Tabita-dactyl” – wonderful prehistoric animal drawings from Year 1.

Picture credit: Year 1 Abbey Hey Primary Academy/Everything Dinosaur

The teacher who kindly sent in the pictures included a note:

“We hope you like our lovely imaginary dinosaurs all with unique names”.

We certainly did and the drawings have been put up on display in our warehouse. Our thanks to all the children in Year 1 and their teachers at Abbey Hey Primary Academy.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s award-winning website: Everything Dinosaur.

2 03, 2017

Cranberry Academy Study the Remarkable Mary Anning

By Mike|2024-05-07T13:41:14+01:00March 2nd, 2017|Categories: Key Stage 1/2|Comments Off on Cranberry Academy Study the Remarkable Mary Anning

Year 2 Study Mary Anning

Children in Key Stage 1 at Cranberry Academy have been learning all about dinosaurs and fossils this term. For the children in Year 2, they have had the opportunity to learn about the life and times of Mary Anning. Mary became famous for the fossils that she collected and sold at Lyme Regis. Mary was responsible for some very important fossil discoveries, including giant marine reptiles and finding the fossilised remains of the first flying reptile to be named and described from England.

Children in Year 2 Created Portraits of Mary Anning

Illustrations of Mary Anning. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur /Cranberry Academy

What a lovely collection of Mary Anning portraits on display along the Key Stage 1 corridor. We challenged the children to have a go at a tongue twister that we gave them and prior to our morning of dinosaur and fossil themed workshops we sat down with the enthusiastic teaching team and discussed further extension activities to support the scheme of work. One of these activities involved the children designing their very own dinosaur. Could they label the body parts including the skull?

Ammonite Fossils

During the workshops, the children got the chance to handle all sorts of fossils, including ammonites, ancient cephalopods, fossils of which, Mary Anning would have been very familiar. The budding young palaeontologists, many of whom, had specially dressed up for the dinosaur day, were very excited and enjoyed playing our fish catching game. Earlier on in the term, the Year 2 children had used wax crayons and water colours to create their very own ammonite scratch drawings. These drawings of animals, related to today’s squid and the octopus adorned a noticeboard just outside the well-appointed Year 2 classroom.

Year 2 Made Scratch Drawings of Ammonite Fossils

Ammonite drawings from schoolchildren. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur /Cranberry Academy

The story of Mary Anning makes an excellent element within a term topic exploring fossils and life in the past. An Everything Dinosaur team member supplied a number of extension resources to the teaching team all aimed at helping support their cross curricular teaching components.

Learning About Mary Anning

The Key Stage 1 children were fascinated when they were shown a model of what an ammonite actually looked like. Could they work out from the clues how many eyes ammonites had? Could they work out how many tentacles these creatures could wave? Where was the animal’s mouth?

A Model of An Ammonite Used to Help Explain About Life in the Past

The Bullyland ammonite model next to a polished section of an ammonite fossil.

A Bullyland ammonite model is often used in museum displays to depict the living animal next to fossil material. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The picture above shows the Bullyland ammonite model.

To view the range of Bullyland prehistoric animal models: Bullyland Prehistoric Animal Models.

Even the lunchtime supervisor got involved. She explained that she had been to Lyme Regis a few weeks ago and found her own ammonite fossils on the sea shore, just like Mary Anning did!

Visit the Everything Dinosaur website: Everything Dinosaur.

22 02, 2017

A Dinosaur and Fossil Day at Great Wishford Primary School

By Mike|2023-05-21T12:52:05+01:00February 22nd, 2017|Categories: Early Years Foundation Reception, General Teaching, Key Stage 1/2|Comments Off on A Dinosaur and Fossil Day at Great Wishford Primary School

A Day of Dinosaurs and Fossils

Situated in the heart of rural Wiltshire is the delightful village of Great Wishford. Many of the rocks used as local building materials were laid down during the Jurassic geological period. Children at Great Wishford Primary have just started learning about dinosaurs and fossils, quite appropriate really, when the school is situated in a part of the world renowned for its Jurassic marine fossils. The children are living in their very own “Jurassic Park”.

A Dinosaur and Fossil Day

The children in the mixed Reception and Year 1 class had been challenged to build their own dinosaur over the half-term break. The models made an excellent display in the classroom. Lots of different materials had been used in the project, the children (and their grown-up helpers) can be very proud of their efforts.

Half-term Project Building Prehistoric Animal Models

Dinosaur and fossil day at Great Wishford Primary school.

Dinosaur and fossil models on display in a classroom. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Great Preparation for the Next Term Topic

Dinosaur and prehistoric animal figures in the classroom.

An amazing collection of prehistoric animal models made by the children. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Dinosaur Workshops with Year5/6 and Reception/Year 1

The morning was spent working with the children in Upper Key Stage 2. The focus was on developing the concept of working scientifically, using evidence to formulate ideas and theories. Our lesson plan had been prepared with the aim of enriching the scheme of work that had been prepared by the dedicated teaching team.

Themes such as extinction, evolution, adaptation and natural selection were covered and the class was given the chance to look at a real palaeontological puzzle as they tried to work out, based on the fossil evidence, what a prehistoric fish had for its dinner!

What Had a Prehistoric Fish Had for its Dinner?

The Papo Otodus megalodon model in anterior view. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The picture above shows a Papo prehistoric shark model.

To view the range of Papo prehistoric animal figures: Papo Prehistoric Animal Models.

A Provocation Session

In the afternoon, it was the turn of the Reception and Year 1 children, an opportunity to provide a provocation session to kick-start the dinosaur themed term topic. The enthusiastic children moved quietly through the forest and employed their super-power when a Tyrannosaurus rex was looking for something to eat.

They learned that most fossils feel cold when you first touch them and that some fossils can be big or even massive! Over the course of the day we proposed a series of age-appropriate extension activities to help support the well-crated term topic plans of the teaching team. The children in Year 5/6 were challenged to research the story of the Coelacanth and to look at the evidence that helps support the theory that the dinosaurs are not actually extinct. The mixed Reception and Year 1 class were challenged to have a go a drawing their very own dinosaur, but they had to label the body parts including the skull.

A Scale Drawing of a Coelacanth

Scale drawing of a Coelacanth. What is a Coelacanth?

A scale drawing of a Coelacanth. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The well-organised and tidy classrooms were most impressive and the care and attention the school staff had taken to create exciting and rewarding learning environments was clearly evident. Lots of different activities supporting the learning needs of the children had been prepared. For example, in the Reception/Year 1 classroom the outline of a long-necked dinosaur (Sauropoda) had been created on the floor using masking tape. The dinosaur’s tail stuck out into the corridor! This simple exercise can help children to appreciate just how big some dinosaurs were as well as helping to reinforce differences between ourselves and animals.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s website: Everything Dinosaur.

16 02, 2017

Helping to Organise a School Trip to Wren’s Nest

By Mike|2023-05-19T07:35:21+01:00February 16th, 2017|Categories: Educational Activities, Geology, Main Page, Teaching|0 Comments

Wren’s Nest and School Trips

Everything Dinosaur has been contacted by a school based in the West Midlands, seeking advice about a trip to the famous Wren’s Nest National Nature Reserve, a place we know very well indeed! This location is a popular destination for local schools which are studying fossils and rocks as part of the National Curriculum (England).

Visiting Wren’s Nest

Wren’s Nest is to the north-east of the town of Dudley and it is a designated SSSI (site of special scientific interest), so no hammering at the cliffs of this former quarry is allowed. However, lots of fossils are being washed out of the scree slopes and there is something like seven hundred different types of fossil to collect, nearly ninety of which are unique to the Wren’s Nest area.

The Famous Ripple Beds at Wren’s Nest

The famous ripple beds at Wren’s Nest SSSI located in the West Midlands.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The picture above shows the famous “Ripple Bed Hill” at Wren’s Nest. This near vertical cliff face was once at the bottom of a shallow sea. The “ripples” are the preserved remains of wave action on the seabed, they are around 426 million years old. Taking schoolchildren to this location, helps them to gain an appreciation of deep, geological time.

How Did the Ripple Beds Form?

These structures formed as a result of massive, probably seasonal storms that swept across the normally, relatively calm sea. The huge waves generated by the storm, led to the seabed being disturbed, the waves created by the storm had much more energy and their effect was felt much deeper in the tropical sea than usual. Sand and debris was picked up and washed backwards and forwards over the seabed, creating the ripples.

The seabed was nearly 100 feet (thirty metres), under water and normally it would have been unaffected by usual sea conditions. However, the symmetrical ripples are evidence of storm damage to this part of the seabed back in the Late Silurian.

Preserving Invertebrates as Fossils

After the storm had passed, the sea would have once again returned to its relatively calm state. Thirty metres down the seabed was once again protected by the effects of normal-sized waves, which could not penetrate deep enough to wipe away the ridges and ripples caused by the storm. Crinoids, (sea-lilies) soon colonised this part of the sea floor. However, sometime later, perhaps a few months, or perhaps after several years a large amount of mud was dumped on top of the ripples, permitting their preservation. The mud could have been deposited as a result of exceptional run-off from the land, or perhaps an earthquake or other seismic event led to a large amount of sediment being shifted.

Whatever, the cause the ripples (and the crinoids living on them), were buried. Palaeontologists have identified a total of twenty-five ripple bed areas in the cliffs that make up this feature of Wren’s Nest. Each ripple bed represents a separate storm event.

Fossils Galore to be Found

More than 700 different fossils found at Wren's Nest

Lots of brachiopod and coral fossils to find at Wren’s Nest.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

For replicas of iconic animals from the fossil record and creative toys and games: Replicas of Iconic Fossil Animals and Dinosaur Toys and Games.

Top Tips for a School Visit to Wren’s Nest

The site represents the remains of an ancient coral ecosystem dating between 423-426 million years ago (mya), it is Silurian in age and more than 700 different types of fossils have been found at this site. A party of schoolchildren will not collect them all, but they are bound to find plenty of fossils to satisfy curious minds. However, finding your own Trilobite fossil, a “Dudley Bug” Calymene blumenbachii, is most unlikely but you might find a fragment of the exoskeleton, a piece shed when the animal moulted.

• This is an SSSI (site of special scientific interest), no hammers or tools of any kind are permitted on site. However, you don’t need any tools as the constantly eroding scree provides lots of fossils that can simply be picked up.
• There are no toilet facilities at this location.
• A mid-week visit is best, either quite early in the morning or in the afternoon, although, the area tends not to be that busy at most times.
• When we visit we park close to the Caves Inn (car parking from 9.30am to 4pm Monday to Friday).
• The slopes are a magnet for young fossil hunters who love to try to climb them (and run up and down them), these slopes are very steep and very slippery after rain, so sensible precautions need to be taken.
• There is a slight risk of rock falls, after all, this is an old quarry site, but in all our visits, we have never seen any evidence of this.
• Contact Wren’s Nest here: Further information about Wren’s Nest. You might even be able to arrange short talk by one of the very knowledgeable wardens.

Typical Scree Slope at Wren’s Nest

A view of Wren’s Nest.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s award-winning website: Everything Dinosaur.

9 02, 2017

Foundation Children and Year 2 Study Dinosaurs

By Mike|2023-05-17T17:42:11+01:00February 9th, 2017|Categories: Educational Activities, Main Page, Teaching|0 Comments

January – A Month of Studying Dinosaurs

Children in the Foundation Stage and Year 2 at Our Lady & St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, (Rotherham, South Yorkshire), spent last month learning all about dinosaurs and fossils.

The dedicated and enthusiastic teaching staff had put together an exciting and challenging scheme of work and as part of a planned range of experiences, Everything Dinosaur was invited into the school to deliver dinosaur and fossil themed workshops for the children.

Learning About Dinosaurs and Fossils

The visitor from Everything Dinosaur had already liaised with the teaching staff to ensure that the Foundation Stage 1 children (Nursery), could be involved. The Foundation Stage 1 children are split between a morning session and an afternoon session. To allow all the Nursery and Reception children to participate, it was simply a case of dividing the Reception class into two. This meant that some Reception children could have a workshop with the morning Nursery children, whilst the remainder of the class could have a workshop after lunch joining the afternoon Nursery class.

The dinosaur expert coordinated his lesson plans with the school so that each group had a similar kinaesthetic and visual learning experience. This would help the Reception class team, when the children were brought together again, to review the many photographs of the workshop as part of a recall/recounting activity.

Lots of Amazing Dinosaur Designs

Dinosaur drawings.

Picture credit: Our Lady & St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School and Everything Dinosaur

Design Your Own Dinosaur!

Several extension ideas came out of the dinosaur workshops. For example, we challenged the children to have a go at designing their own dinosaur. We wanted to see if the children could label the body parts of their prehistoric animal creation, especially the skull. We carefully arranged the drawings from the classes, (the teacher had kindly sent in the drawings to us), on our warehouse floor, these were photographed before they were pinned onto our various display boards.

Imaginative Dinosaur Designs

Wonderful dinosaur drawings.

Picture credit: Our Lady & St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School and Everything Dinosaur

We asked the Year 2 children to consider what colour the dinosaur might be? Where would it have lived? How would it have kept itself safe in the Age of Dinosaurs? This activity for the Reception children helps them with their fine motor skills as well as reinforcing ideas about our own bodies and how they differ from animals.

Imaginative Dinosaur Designs

Under the guidance of the teaching team, many of the children embellished their designs using different materials like sparkles, coloured circles, buttons and feathers. Feathers are quite appropriate as palaeontologists are confident that a large number of dinosaurs were indeed, covered in a coat of shaggy feathers.

For inspirational dinosaur themed arts and craft ideas and gifts: Prehistoric Animal Themed Toys and Gifts.

A Jessosaurus One of the Dinosaur Designs

Jessosaurus – dinosaur design.

Picture credit: Our Lady & St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School and Everything Dinosaur

A Long-Legged Dinosaur with Big Eyes

A long-legged dinosaur.

Picture credit: Our Lady & St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School and Everything Dinosaur

For further information about Everything Dinosaur’s teaching work in schools and dinosaur workshops: Email Everything Dinosaur.

Our thanks to the teaching team at Our Lady & St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School for sending into Everything Dinosaur such a super selection of dinosaur drawings.

Visit the award-winning Everything Dinosaur website: Everything Dinosaur.

8 02, 2017

“Les Dinosaures” New Drawing Materials from Papo

By Mike|2024-05-07T13:35:43+01:00February 8th, 2017|Categories: Dinosaur Fans, Educational Activities, Main Page, Press Releases, Teaching|0 Comments

“Les Dinosaures” Drawing Materials from Papo

Papo the France-based model and figure manufacturer have donated a pdf featuring prehistoric animals so that Everything Dinosaur can offer this as a free to download Key Stage 1 and EYFS teaching resource for schools. Children enjoy colouring pictures of dinosaurs and other amazing creatures that lived in the past, the Papo colouring in materials features the horned dinosaur Styracosaurus (Late Cretaceous) and a Sabre-toothed cat, a Smilodon (Pleistocene Epoch).

The Prehistoric Animal Drawing to Colour In

Prehistoric animal scene to colour in from Papo of France.

Prehistoric animal drawing materials donated by Papo.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur and Papo

Everything Dinosaur and Work in Schools

Everything Dinosaur offers a wide range of free to download teaching resources as part of its extensive work in schools, helping to teach about life in the past.

A spokesperson for Everything Dinosaur commented:

“Our thanks to Papo for sending across the image, it will be available as a free to download pdf file which can be requested by contacting Everything Dinosaur. We now offer over thirty free downloads of teaching resources for schools, aimed at Foundation Stage through to Key Stage 4.”

To contact Everything Dinosaur team members and to request the free download of drawing materials: Contact Everything Dinosaur.

Word Mats, Lesson Plans and How to Demonstrate Birds are Dinosaurs

A number of Papo prehistoric animal models are used in our dinosaur themed workshops with children. For example, when discussing evolution and natural selection with Year six pupils we use models of the various Velociraptors made by Papo to demonstrate how our ideas about dinosaurs have changed over time. The Papo feathered Velociraptor is ideal for demonstrating how closely related to birds some theropod dinosaurs were.

The Papo Velociraptor Dinosaur Model Makes a Useful Teaching Aid

The Papo feathered Velociraptor dinosaur model.

Available from Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Papo “Les Dinosaures”

The Papo feathered Velociraptor dinosaur model makes a wonderful, tactile teaching aid when demonstrating how closely related the Aves (birds), are to some kinds of dinosaur. This element from our dinosaur workshop provides lots of extension ideas and activities. The class become avid bird watchers, or should that be “avian dinosaur watchers”.

When working with younger children we challenge them to develop their vocabulary using pictures of Papo prehistoric animal models. We have made a series of word mats, that once laminated can help children gain confidence with new words and can help them learn the differences between people and animals. The accompanying pronunciation guide and geological time line proves very useful to the teachers too.

Papo Model Inspired Word Mats Produced by Everything Dinosaur

Papo Spinosaurus word mat.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

To view the range of Papo prehistoric animal models available from Everything Dinosaur: Papo Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal Figures.

7 02, 2017

Everything Dinosaur gets Fantastic Customer Reviews

By Mike|2024-05-07T13:36:50+01:00February 7th, 2017|Categories: Dinosaur Fans, Educational Activities, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Press Releases, Teaching|0 Comments

Everything Dinosaur Customer Reviews

As Everything Dinosaur prepares to introduce a new website, time today to reflect on all the wonderful reviews the company has received from its customers. Over 1,500 comments, reviews and feedback from customers have been posted up on Everything Dinosaur’s website, we are grateful for them all.

Thank You for All the Comments

The “dinosaurs for schools” website has a different review format. This website in the Everything Dinosaur portfolio is dedicated to helping teachers, teaching assistants and educationalists and provides lots of helpful prehistoric animal themed resources for schools. There are more than thirty free downloads available, all aimed at supporting the curriculum, this website has reviews of our dinosaur themed workshops posted up. Over 170 schools have provided feedback and we are very proud of our five-star rating.

Recent Customer Reviews on the Everything Dinosaur Website

Sculptor Doug Watson has thoroughly consulted modern scientific literature on the “Tyrant King” to create this defining model. Whilst the reality of soft tissue extent and integumentary coverage in Tyrannosaurus rex is long lost in the depths of time, this model is anatomically precise, and is a very feasible reconstruction based on the forensic modern approach to dinosaur research. There is nothing “fluffy” or soft about this reconstruction. It is perfectly realised as THE alpha predator stem bird! Exceptional. No collector should be without one! [Wild Safari Prehistoric World Feathered T. rex model].
An awesome model. Absolutely quality, fantastic model; great size and beautiful detail! [CollectA Kelenken Terror Bird replica].
Nice to deal with a company that cares about its customers. I would just like to thank you, received my order today it is a lovely set, my grandson will love it, nice to deal with a company who cares about their customers from the start of ordering to end with delivery. Keep up the good work. Thank you. [Dinosaur Dinner Set]
It seems I was lucky in nabbing the last one from ED so I will just say, if you like the look of this replica, it’s well worth the effort hunting one down. As usual ED are extremely helpful and super-fast dispatching their orders. Thank you. [Rebor 1:1 scale Lourinhanosaurus replica – limited edition].

The Wild Safari Prehistoric World Feathered T. rex Model Has Attracted a Lot of Favourable Reviews

Wild Safari Prehistoric World Feathered Tyrannosaurus rex.

Wild Safari Prehistoric World Feathered T. rex.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

To view the Wild Safari range of models: Prehistoric World – Wild Safari Models.

Recent Customer Reviews on the Everything Dinosaur “Dinosaurs for School” Website

The whole morning session was excellent. Children (and staff) were engaged and enthralled by the information, fossils and activities. Support and follow-up ideas are excellent and have really helped to shape my topic from this point. Overall a fantastic experience and learning session for all involved. Brilliant workshop! [Dinosaur Workshop KS1]
The children had an amazing experience today. The detail of the lesson plan and discussion beforehand meant that lots of knowledge was reinforced and gained. Dino Mike had the whole class mesmerised for the duration of the session. The resources were great. [Year 1]
Another wonderful session. All children involved very active and interactive, ideal for the age of the children. Mike’s energy and personality are so well suited to these sessions. I know Mike has visited at least seven times before over the years and I guarantee that we will book again. [Reception]

Everything Dinosaur’s Workshops in Schools Help to Popularise Science in Schools

Everything Dinosaur workshops cancelled for March 21st (2020).

Everything Dinosaur’s dinosaur and fossil theme workshops.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

We look forward to having even more reviews and customer comments on our new website.

Visit the Everything Dinosaur website: Everything Dinosaur.

6 02, 2017

Dinosaur Drawings and Letters from Reception

By Mike|2023-05-16T09:30:17+01:00February 6th, 2017|Categories: Early Years Foundation Reception, General Teaching|Comments Off on Dinosaur Drawings and Letters from Reception

Egerton Primary School Reception Class Study Dinosaurs

Last month, a team member from Everything Dinosaur visited the Reception class at Egerton Primary to conduct a dinosaur and fossil themed workshop in support of the children’s term topic all about dinosaurs. The children have been loving learning all about prehistoric animals and working out which ones were carnivores and which ones were herbivores. Lots of fun activities linked to personal development and gaining confidence with reading and writing have been incorporated into the exciting scheme of work by the dedicated teaching team.

A Fossil Themed Workshop

As part of the extension activities that came out of the workshop, the Reception class were challenged to write in to thank us for visiting their school and a couple of days ago, we received in the post a big envelope filled with the children’s letters as well as some very colourful dinosaur drawings.

For inspirational dinosaur themed toys and gifts: Prehistoric Animal Themed Toys and Gifts.

The Letters and Drawings from the Reception Class (Egerton Primary)

Wonderful dinosaur drawings. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Egerton Primary School/Everything Dinosaur

We took a photograph of the letters and drawings and tweeted about the children’s work. We made sure to copy in the school’s Twitter feed. The children had taken great care over the letter writing exercise, lots of great finger spacing, confident shaping of letters and the children kept their words on the lines, which when you are just five years of age, is a great achievement.

Beautiful Dinosaur Drawings

A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur praised the children’s drawing. He stated that the children had created some amazing prehistoric animals. Many of the drawings had been carefully labelled. The spokesperson congratulated the children and the teaching staff.

Well done the Reception class at Egerton Primary.

Visit the Everything Dinosaur website: Everything Dinosaur.

31 01, 2017

Happy Smiling Dinosaurs Delight Young Children

By Mike|2024-05-07T13:01:57+01:00January 31st, 2017|Categories: General Teaching, Key Stage 1/2|Comments Off on Happy Smiling Dinosaurs Delight Young Children

Year 1 Make Paper Dinosaurs

After a busy morning delivering two dinosaur themed workshops to Year 1 classes at Prescot Primary, our dinosaur expert was presented with a couple of paper dinosaurs that some of the girls had made. Origami dinosaurs, what a super idea! Rolled up white paper is a cheap and effective way to make pretend dinosaur bones for use in art classes building dinosaur skeletons, but we had not been presented with paper dinosaurs before. The two dinosaurs, one a herbivore, the other a carnivore (we explored these terms along with omnivores with the children), had huge grins on their faces, they look like very happy dinosaurs to us.

Dinosaur Themed Workshops

Prescot Primary and the Paper Dinosaurs

Dinosaur themed workshops produce happy, smiling dinosaurs. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Our dinosaur expert was informed that one of the models was a Diplodocus, the other a Tyrannosaurus rex. During the visit to the school by Everything Dinosaur, we were asked lots of questions by the children (and the teachers too). We were asked how to pronounce Diplodocus? Good question, we tend to pronounce this long-necked dinosaur as “dip-ploh-de-kus”, whilst others prefer to use “dip-ploh-dok-us”, both forms of pronunciation are fine by us.

Questions About Dinosaurs

Other questions included wanting to know whether dinosaurs were warm or cold-blooded, were dinosaurs fluffy and whether chickens were in fact dinosaurs?

To view a range of fluffy, soft toy dinosaurs: Dinosaur Soft Toys.

What a super set of questions from Lower Key Stage 1.

Very Big Smiles on the Dinosaur’s Faces

Happy smiling dinosaurs created by school children.

Picture credit: Class Y1G and Everything Dinosaur

Palaeontologists have suggested that dinosaurs might have had lips. Perhaps they could pull faces, maybe they were even capable of smiling, now there’s an interesting thought, something to explore with Year 1 as an extension after the dinosaur workshop in school.

To read an article published by Everything Dinosaur that examines the research into whether dinosaurs had lips or not: Dinosaurs Had Lips.

Everything Dinosaur

A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur thanked the children for their questions.

The spokesperson stated:

“It was fun working with the children. The paper dinosaurs that the children made were wonderful.”

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s website: Everything Dinosaur.

26 01, 2017

Gigantosaurus – You Mean Giganotosaurus? That’s an Interesting Question

By Mike|2025-09-26T07:51:40+01:00January 26th, 2017|Categories: Dinosaur Fans, Educational Activities, Main Page, Teaching|7 Comments

No Such Dinosaur As Gigantosaurus

This week, team members at Everything Dinosaur are in the middle of their dinosaur themed workshops planned for the first half of the Spring Term. About fifteen workshops have been undertaken since Christmas and there are another fifteen or so to go before the half-term break.

Dinosaur Themed Workshops

On Friday, a member of the Everything Dinosaur teaching team will be visiting a school to work with two classes of Year 2 children who have been learning about dinosaurs. The inspirational text is “Gigantosaurus” written by Jonny Duddle. The class teacher has been using this fictional text to inspire English work by using imaginative descriptions to create characters and setting descriptions. In addition, the Lower Key Stage children will be exploring rhyme through poetry.

However, there has not been a theropod dinosaur named “Gigantosaurus”.

Children Being Inspired by a Dinosaur Book

No such theropod dinosaur called “Gigantosaurus”. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

To read a related article that looks at a dubious sauropod taxon: Wild Safari Prehistoric World Malawisaurus.

A Carefully Crafted Scheme of Work

The choice of dinosaur themed text is part of a carefully crafted scheme of work that explores a range of fiction and non-fiction texts over the course of the term topic. Non-fiction texts are being used to help challenge the children to write non-chronological reports.

For those readers unfamiliar with the book “Gigantosaurus”, it is a simple tale based on the story of the boy who cried wolf. All young dinosaurs are warned about the scary “Gigantosaurus”. Young Bonehead volunteers to be the lookout whenever the group of dinosaur friends go into the jungle to play. He alerts his friends on numerous occasions but “Gigantosaurus” is nowhere to be seen, this is the story of the “boy who cried wolf”. Bonehead’s friends refuse to believe his warnings when the dinosaur called “Gigantosaurus” finally turns up.

Giganotosaurus carolinii or Gigantspinosaurus sichuanensis

Inspirational this fiction text might be, but most young palaeontologists will tell you that the closest real dinosaur name is Giganotosaurus (giant southern lizard), a meat-eating dinosaur and one of the largest terrestrial carnivores known to science.

A Model of the Giant Meat-eating Dinosaur Giganotosaurus (G. carolinii)

Wild Safari Prehistoric World Giganotosaurus dinosaur model.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The Giganotosaurus model (above) is made by Safari Ltd. It is one of several theropod dinosaur in the Wild Safari Prehistoric World range.

To view this range of prehistoric animal figures: Wild Safari Prehistoric Animal Models.

Ironically, Giganotosaurus (pronounced jy-ga-no-toe-sore-us), is a favourite amongst children, especially boys. Being bigger than Tyrannosaurus rex makes Giganotosaurus carolinii very popular indeed. It is not the only dinosaur with a similar sounding name. There is stegosaur from China known as Gigantspinosaurus (G. sichuanensis). The genus name means “giant spined lizard” and one glance at the illustration of this plant-eating dinosaur (below) will tell you why.

“Giant Spined Lizard”

An Illustration of Gigantspinosaurus (G. sichuanensis)

The very “spiky” Gigantspinosaurus. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The illustration (above) shows Gigantspinosaurus. A Gigantspinosaurus is found in the CollectA Prehistoric Life range.

To view this model range: CollectA Age of Dinosaurs Figures.

Dinosaur Themed Workshops – Providing Extension Activities

As part of a series of extension activities planned for the children after our dinosaur workshop in the school, we have prepared a dinosaur “hokey cokey” song for the children, it will help them explore rhyme through a familiar song. We will also be telling them all about Giganotosaurus.

Visit the award-winning Everything Dinosaur website: Everything Dinosaur.