The Daresbury Dark Matter Garden

As Everything Dinosaur team members prepare to take part in the public open day at Daresbury Laboratory (Cheshire), there was time to admire the wonderful, mature Dark Matter garden on the site.  The garden was commissioned in 2015 to mark the centenary of the publication of Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity.

A View into the Dark Matter Garden Located at Daresbury Laboratory (Cheshire)

A view into the Dark Matter garden at Daresbury Science Laboratories (Warrington, Cheshire)

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

What is Dark Matter?

Dark Matter is very mysterious, it is the “stuff” that is believed to make up a significant percentage of our universe, but it cannot be seen and detecting it is extremely difficult.  However, we can measure the effect of Dark Matter on other objects.  It has gravitational effects on visible matter, these effects can be detected and the presence of this Dark Matter inferred from such interactions.

The Award Winning Dark Matter Garden

The warped steel rods represent the effect of dark matter on the bending of light.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The garden has matured since it was awarded a gold rating at the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show last year.  The planting emphasises our changing universe and the warped steel rods, as they bend and twist through the plot represent the bending of the trajectory of light around massive objects.  As the wind blows through the substantial bamboo grass in the centre it reflects the effect invisible forces have.  At one end is a large square metal structure with a round aperture.  The symbolises the human view from Earth based telescopes as we look into space and explore the wonders of the universe.

The Hunt for Dark Matter

Dark Matter fascinates the scientific community and scientists from all over the world are working hard to understand more about it.  Our planet would not have formed without it, stars, galaxies and our universe is dependent upon it yet Dark Matter’s existence has only been proved indirectly.  Scientists are on a quest to find out more about it.

Professor Andy Newsam, Director of the National Schools’ Observatory at Liverpool John Moores University which organised the garden, explained:

“Dark Matter is a hypothetical kind of matter that cannot be seen with telescopes but accounts for most of the matter in the universe.  The existence and properties of Dark Matter are inferred from its gravitational effects on visible matter, radiation and the large-scale structure of the universe.”

The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), as funders of Dark Matter research in the UK and at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, sponsored the Chelsea Flower Show exhibit.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s website: Everything Dinosaur.

Forden Church in Wales School Dinosaur Workshop

A trip into Wales for Everything Dinosaur this morning as one of the team members had been invited to visit Forden Church in Wales School to conduct dinosaur themed workshops with the Foundation children and a mixed class of Year 1 and Year 2.  The children had prepared lots of questions and our fossil expert did his best to answer them all.  The extra resources that he had brought with him went down well with the dedicated and enthusiastic teaching team, especially the dinosaur name pronunciation guide.

Setting Challenges

A number of challenges were set, with one special challenge for the mixed Year 3 and Year 4 class, could they compose a letter to Everything Dinosaur and if they did, could they think of a question that would stump our dinosaur experts?

Year 3 and Year 4 Children Wrote Letters to Everything Dinosaur

The children even illustrated their letters with some wonderful prehistoric animal drawings.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Dinosaur Footprints and Dinosaur Drawings

The children illustrated their letters with some wonderful prehistoric animal drawings.  Ffion and Aimi drew dinosaur footprints and they both wanted to know about dinosaur teeth.  Aimi asked do all types of dinosaurs have fierce teeth?  Her query ties in with a question sent in by Matthew who enquired how many dinosaur herbivores were there?  Ffion asked do all types of dinosaurs have special teeth?  The mouths of dinosaurs were adapted to help them eat the food that the ate.

Some dinosaurs, such as most of the meat-eaters, had teeth that were sharp and fierce looking, whilst many of the herbivorous dinosaurs such as Triceratops had rows and rows of square and blocky shaped teeth, ideal for grinding up plants.  Some dinosaurs did not have any teeth at all.  About two-thirds of all the dinosaurs described so far were plant eaters.

Matthew Wanted to Know How Many Herbivorous Dinosaurs Were There?

Proportion of plant-eaters to meat-eaters in the Dinosauria.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

In an email sent to Mrs Davies, one of the teachers, we were able to answer questions from Dan, Bethany and Nicky.  Ryan had wanted to know what the name Tyrannosaurus rex means, we challenged the class to be “dinosaur detectives” and to conduct some research to find out for themselves.

How Many Pterodactyls Were There?

Wayne wanted to know how many Pterodactyls were there?  This tied in with a question asked during one of our dinosaur workshops.  The correct term for these flying reptiles is Pterosaurs and so far, something like 120 different types of Pterosaur have been named.  The children were surprised to learn that the biggest Pterosaurs were taller than giraffes.

Prehistoric Animal Drawings from the Children

Ben wanted to know how many fossils we had found?

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

How Many Fossils Have We Found?

Ben asked about the number of fossils we had found.  Everything Dinosaur team members are really lucky and they get to go on lots of fossil hunts.  They have found thousands of fossils, some of which we keep and store in our warehouse so we can learn more about prehistoric life.

One Letter Featured Pachycephalosaurus and Apatosaurus

An illustrated dinosaur letter.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

For models and replicas of prehistoric animals: Prehistoric Animal and Dinosaur Models.

Marine Reptiles in a Dinosaur Workshop

A number of letters featured drawings of marine reptiles.  Harvey drew a green coloured marine reptile and asked when did the dinosaurs become extinct?  This is a question that we will leave for the children to research, perhaps they can look at the evidence and come up with their own theory as to why the non-avian dinosaurs died out.  The question why are dinosaurs called dinosaurs was also asked.  The term dinosaur was first coined more than 150 years ago, to find out about the scientist responsible, check out this link here: Happy Birthday Sir Richard Owen.

 When Did the Dinosaurs Live?

Marine reptiles used to illustrate a letter with questions about dinosaurs.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Zak asked when did the dinosaurs live?  The timeline we provided along with the other extension resources should help Zak to answer this one.  He also asked why are dinosaurs called reptiles?  Dinosaurs make up part of a group of animals called reptiles, there are many different types of reptile living today.  We sent a word game over to the school via email, can the children fill in the blanks and work out the names of reptiles alive today?

Dinosaur Workshop

Our thanks to all the children  and their teachers at Forden Church in Wales School.  We shall pin up these very colourful letters onto one of the walls in our office.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s website: Everything Dinosaur.

Abercrombie School Pupils Study Dinosaurs

Earlier this month, a member of the Everything Dinosaur team visited Abercrombie Primary School in Chesterfield (Derbyshire), as part of two days of science study with Year 2, 3, 4, 5 and Year 6.  Over the course of the workshops we conducted, we set a number of challenges for the classes.  One challenge was to have the children “design their very own prehistoric animal”, with a new dinosaur species being named, on average, every three weeks or so, there is plenty of scope for new dinosaurs.

Another challenge involved the children writing Everything Dinosaur a thank you letter, from our bulging mail bag on Friday, it looks like lots of the pupils at the school took up the opportunity to send in examples of their work.

Drawings of Dinosaurs

A Collection of Very Colourful Prehistoric Animal Drawings

Pupils from Abercrombie Primary sent in dinosaur drawings.

Picture credit: Abercrombie Primary School/Everything Dinosaur

Everything Dinosaur Says Thank You

Our thanks to Henry, Daisy, Frasier, Sophie, Ebony, Daisy, Reuben, Lucy, Daniel, Ibrahim, Alfie, Holly, Noah and all the other children who sent in super prehistoric animal drawings, they are certainly very colourful.

The children have thought very carefully about their prehistoric animal designs.  They considered where the animal might live, what it might eat and how it would keep itself safe.

Joelasaurus by Henry

A very colourful dinosaur drawing by Henry.

Picture credit: Abercrombie Primary School/Everything Dinosaur

We enjoyed looking at all the prehistoric animal pictures that had been sent into us by the children.  Some of the dinosaur names the children had invented were very creative such as “Hungry eater steeler” from Leo and we even had a drawing of Indominus rex from the film Jurassic World.

For dinosaur toys, games and gifts: Dinosaur Toys and Gifts.

Thank You Letters Sent to Everything Dinosaur

The hand-writing challenge involved composing a thank you letter to Everything Dinosaur and sure enough we received a set of beautiful and well written thank you letters, some of which had even been illustrated.

Thank You Letters Sent in by the Children (Abercrombie Primary School)

Pupils sent in thank you letters to Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Abercrombie Primary School/Everything Dinosaur

Our thanks to Ali, Dexter, Oliver, Libby, Alice (yes, you are quite right fossils are usually found in sandstone and limestone), Erin and Harry (wonderful dinosaur skull drawing).

Isobel wanted to know how long have we been looking for fossils?  Everything Dinosaur team members found their first fossils when they were not much older than Georgia or Felix.  Louie wrote to say that he was sorry to have missed all the dinosaurs as he had been ill but he did send in a nice letter and even took the trouble to draw some dinosaur eggs.

Cole Sent in a Beautiful Thank You Letter

A thank you letter from a pupil at Abercrombie Primary.

Picture credit: Abercrombie Primary School/Everything Dinosaur

How Do You Get Fossils of Dinosaurs?

The question was asked, how do you get fossils?  Fossil can be found in lots of places but most fossils are found in rocks and one of the best places to find them is at the seaside.  Arthur wrote in to say that his favourite part was holding the Tyrannosaurus rex tooth and he also liked the stickers we gave him.

A special thank you to all the children at Abercrombie Primary who sent in letters and pictures.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s website: Everything Dinosaur.

A Return Visit to Thorpe Hesley Primary School

A busy morning for Everything Dinosaur, as one of their team members made a return visit to Thorpe Hesley Primary (Rotherham, south Yorkshire), to work with the two classes of Year 1 children who have been spending the summer term learning all about dinosaurs.  This is a topic that the children in previous years have covered, one of the classrooms had a wonderful paper mâché Triceratops on display.

Exploring Dinosaurs

A Large Model of a Triceratops on Display in the Classroom

A Triceratops on display.

Picture credit: Thorpe Hesley Primary School/Everything Dinosaur

In the tidy and well appointed classrooms, the enthusiastic teaching team had been preparing a range of very creative activities for the budding palaeontologists to try on their special dinosaur day.  Our workshops aimed to reinforce learning as well as to introduce different types of dinosaurs to the children.  Could they remember all the dinosaur facts?

Handling Fossils

The children in Class 1 and Class 2 (Key Stage 1), had the opportunity to handle fossils and their super quick reactions ensured that both classes won some dinosaur stickers.  We look forward to seeing how the pupils got on with the “design a dinosaur challenge” that we set them, can they label all the body parts including the skull?  We noted that an area of one classroom had been set aside so that a special dinosaur museum could be created, we think this would be a great place to exhibit some of the children’s prehistoric animal themed work.

Lots of Dinosaur Habitats on Show in the Classrooms

Exploring dinosaur habitats.

Picture credit: Thorpe Hesley Primary School/Everything Dinosaur

Herbivores and Carnivores

We looked at herbivores and carnivores and explored how many Year 1 children could fit inside the tummy of a really big dinosaur.  In addition, the extra resources our dinosaur expert provided should help the children gain confidence with numbers as a couple of the extension exercises involve measuring and counting.  We even spotted some dinosaurs in the play area used by the Nursery.  Our dinosaur expert felt quite at home with all the dinosaurs and prehistoric animal themed displays at the school.

Spotting Dinosaurs in the Nursery Play Area

A triangle shape filled with dinosaurs.

Picture credit: Thorpe Hesley Primary School/Everything Dinosaur

That is a lovely group of plant-eating dinosaurs, can the children name them?

For models and figures of plant-eating dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals: Dinosaur Models and Figures.

Sadly, all too soon our time was up and it was lunch.  The children had lots of questions and we did not have time to answer them all, so with the permission of the teaching team we challenged the children to write us a thank you letter and if they did, they could include a question if they wanted.  We made a “pinkie palaeontologist” promise to read them all.  As the summer term progresses, soon it will be time for sports day, we sported some equipment close by to the well-stocked resources cupboard and we wondered could the children be using dinosaur eggs for the egg and spoon race?

Could the Children Use Dinosaur Eggs for the Egg and Spoon Race?

Dinosaur eggs for the egg and spoon race?

Picture credit: Thorpe Hesley Primary School/Everything Dinosaur

Glad we were able to help the children explore prehistoric animals with a dinosaur themed workshop.

Visit the Everything Dinosaur website: Everything Dinosaur.