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.