Millions of years ago, dinosaurs lived on Earth. These fascinating creatures ranged in size from tiny flying creatures, to enormous “titanosaurs” such as Dreadnoughtus, which was 26 metres (85 feet) long! Dinosaurs thrived during three prehistoric periods; the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous.
Some of the animals that lived alongside the dinosaurs can still be found in the world today, such as crocodiles and crabs, but the dinosaurs themselves died out 65 million years ago.
Teach your children about dinosaurs using our handy topic guide!
Teaching Ideas
- Use this video of Wayne the Stegosaurus to stimulate some poetry writing.
- This online resource can be used as a complete lesson looking at how we know what dinosaurs looked like.
- Try our teaching ideas for the book Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs.
- Give children our dinosaur statistics fact cards and ask them to order them by height, or weight. They can even use the blank templates to research their own.
- Make your own fossils using Plaster of Paris.
- Older primary children will enjoy exploring the Greek and Latin root words that make up dinosaur names.
Resources
- Our dinosaur timeline helps children to appreciate that the evolution of dinosaurs took place over millions of years.
- Our printable dinosaur posters can be used for a range of learning activities.
- Learn amazing dinosaur facts with our fact cards.
- Children will love learning the names of the dinosaurs on this printable mat.
- Our dinosaur pronunciation cards are really useful for learning how to say those tricky dinosaur names!
Dinosaur Facts
- The word “dinosaur” was first used in 1842 by a scientist named Richard Owen. The word comes from the Ancient Greek and means “terrible lizard”.
- Dinosaur fossils have been found on every continent on Earth.
- The earliest dinosaurs appeared during the Triassic era, over 200 million years ago.
- Modern birds evolved from dinosaurs; the oldest bird fossils are about 150 million years old and have teeth rather than beaks.
- Dinosaurs lived on earth for millions of years before an extinction event about 65 million years ago. Scientists have different theories about what caused it, including a change in the climate, volcanic activity or an impact from an asteroid.
Videos
Diplodocus Facts
Find out about Diplodocus in this fantastic CBeebies video.
Running time: 5:34
Dinosaurs 101
This video gives a brief overview of dinosaurs.
Running time: 3:47
How do dinosaur fossils form?
An animation for the Natural History museum explaining fossil formation.
Running time: 3:49
How dinosaurs footprints get made in solid rock
Join a group of children finding dinosaur footprints at the beach.
Running time: 5:53
Mary Anning – Fossil Hunter
An animated biography of famous fossil hunter Mary Anning.
Running time: 5:06
Books
Katie and the Dinosaurs
Katie steps back into the world of the dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum.
Dinosaurs and All That Rubbish
This classic children’s book introduces children to environmental issues.
The Dinosaur's Diary
It’s difficult for a dinosaur to find a safe place to lay her eggs, in this book for confident readers.
Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp
It’s difficult for a dinosaur to find a safe place to lay her eggs, in this book for confident readers.
Dear Dinosaur
When Max writes to the T Rex, the T Rex writes back! Read their letters in this book.
How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night?
Find out about a dinosaur’s bedtime routine in this charming book.
Encyclopedia Prehistorica Dinosaurs
An incredible pop-up reference book all about dinosaurs.
Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life
An incredible pop-up reference book all about dinosaurs.
Life on Earth: Dinosaurs
This engaging lift-the-flap book is perfect for younger children.
Links
- The Natural History Museum has a huge collection of dinosaur activities on their site.
- Find out more about rock layers and fossils on this interesting page.
- Make and describe your own dinosaurs.
- Learn more about paleontology at the amazing American Museum of Natural History site.
- This site is full of dinosaur themed activities and ideas.
- Explore a dinosaur fossil in 3D.
- The British Council site has lots of activities related to dinosaurs.
- Explore the DKFindout! dinosaur pages for lots of information.
Are you teaching your children about other topics? Explore our full collection of guides!
