Ideas for Joyful Learning During School Closures: Prehistoric Play

At-Home Learning: PBS SoCal and KCET, in partnership with LAUSD and in collaboration with California PBS stations, are offering broadcast programming with digital resources that adhere to California’s state curriculum.

Last week, the PBS SoCal and KCET education team took a world tour. This week, we are also traveling … through time! These activities will take your children on a journey to the land of dinosaurs as your family learns about natural history — a subject that can teach lessons about biodiversity and evolution, as well as important skills like observing change over time and making predictions.

Plus, who doesn’t love dinosaurs?

Ideas for Early Learners (Pre-K–3rd grade)

CREATE

Have you ever wondered what a dinosaur egg looks like? Paleontologists have been using special tools to figure out the colors and patterns that may have appeared on dinosaur eggs. Make your own dinosaur eggs at home and eat them for breakfast! In this activity, you’ll be dyeing speckled Deinonychus eggs using a recipe for natural dyes made out of red cabbage, spinach and coffee.

Fossils are the remains of animals or plants that lived millions of years ago. Paleontologists study fossils to learn more about dinosaurs. Createyour own fossils at home! Using a few common kitchen ingredients like flour, coffee and salt make a dough. Then, fossilize a few items such as flowers, seashells, and rocks. If someone found your fossil a million years from now, what would it tell them about life today? 

PLAY

Go on a scavenger hunt for dinosaurs right from home. Use this guide and take a virtual walk around Dinosaur Hallat the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles to complete the scavenger hunt. Or you can use the photos at the end of the guide to find the dinosaur that matches the description in each box. 

Dinosaurs were once magnificent creatures that roamed the earth. Use your imagination to color Sauropodomorphs,Triceratops, Stegosaurus, T.rex, and Diplodocus. What do these dinos have in common? Why do you think some had long necks, horns or sharp teeth? Check out the Dino Directory or the Dinosaur Train Field Guide if you want to do a bit more research.  

Play PBS KIDS “Dinosaur Train” games online: Fossil Finder, Dino Drink and River Run are just a few we recommend.

Take this fun dinosaur personality quiz to find out where you fall in the dinosaur food chain.

WATCH

Meet three fascinating dinosaurs — the Carnotaurus, Styracosaurus, and Spinosaurus — in this clip from National Geographic Kids Ultimate Dinopedia. 

Watch full episodes of “Dinosaur Train” on PBS KIDS anytime. 

READ

Ten Terrible Dinosaurs by Paul Strickland is great for helping kids learn how to count down from ten. One by one, ten dinosaurs become fewer and fewer as the dinosaurs stomp, dance and shove each other out of the picture (age: 3-5).

Dinosaur Bob and His Adventures with the Family Lazardo by William Joyce will take you on an adventure across land and sea to explore the wonders of the world through art and song (age: 4-8). 

Find a great list of more dino-themed books here. 

Ideas for Older Children (4th Grade-12th Grade)

CREATE

Everybody loves dinosaurs! Create your own dinosaur shadow puppets using cardboard, skewers, tape and scissors. Once created, craft your own stories using the shadow puppets — perhaps research types of dinosaursor explain the scientific theories around what led to the extinction of dinosaurs. For story inspiration, watch this video about what really killed the dinosaurs. 

A budding naturalist needs a journal to record their surroundings. Create your own Nature Journal using everyday materials! Now take your journal and explore the area in and around your home. What wildlife can you find? Make observations and write them in your journal. You can help the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County by sharing your findings. Before you start, brush up on the dos and don’ts of what it takes to be a community scientist.

Draw your own dinosaur with the help of a paleo-artist at the American Museum of Natural History.

EXPLORE

Go on an archeological dig! Paleontologists study the history of life on Earth by looking at the fossil record. Digging for fossils is harder than it looks — paleontologists have to be super careful to not damage fossils that are millions of years old! You can practice digging fossils too! 

• Place a cookie on a paper towel. These can be store-bought chocolate-chip or raisin cookies (or, you can make your own!) The cookie can be any type, it just needs to have bits that can be “excavated” and be relatively soft. Using a toothpick or paperclip, have your kids “excavate” all the chocolate chips from the cookie without breaking or damaging them. To add an additional challenge, use a grid to track where chocolate chips are located in the cookie. Do you notice any patterns to where the “fossils” are buried?
• You can learn more about dinosaur-related jobs in this video about a "Dinosaur Library" at the Museum of the Rockies at Montana State University. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agGAnNewzHY&t=46s

Natural History Museums are great ways for your children to see how the world has changed over the millenia. While in-person visits are not possible right now, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is offering virtual tours of their exhibits, La Brea Tar Pits offers an online Geo Field Trip and The American Museum of Natural Historyhas virtual field trips to some of their famous halls of dioramas. 

WATCH

Take a journey through the history of life on earth with PBS Eons, a digital series about prehistoric eras, significant events in our evolutionary history and how creatures evolved into the animals we know and love today!

Host Joe Hanson from “It’s Okay to Be Smart” breaks-down the evolutionary process with 12 Days of Evolution.

Get the 411 on genetics in this series of animated shorts, The Gene Explained, part of Ken Burns’ newest series “The Gene: An Intimate History.”

We want to hear from you!

We would love to see photos of you doing these activities with your family. Email your photos and stories to education@pmgsocal.org.