Though they've been extinct for 65 million years, dinosaurs still make an impact in our world today. On February 10, 2022- just a few short months ago-scientists identified a new type of dinosaur called a thanatotheristes degrootorum in Alberta, Canada. This just goes to show that the world is still full of mysteries waiting to be discovered!
Below are five more dinosaur-themed things to teach your kids.
1. A silly joke.
This dino-mite joke may have you roaring with laughter:
How do you offer a dinosaur a beverage? "Tea, Rex?"
2. A new vocabulary word.
What do you call a dinosaur with an extensive vocabulary? A thesaurus! ha!
How do dinosaurs get their names? Dinosaur names are often combinations of Greek and Latin root words that describe the creature's physical anatomy. The name triceratops, for example, can be broken down into three root words: tri, cerat, and ops. Tri means three, cerat means horned, and ops means face. A triceratops dinosaur is aptly named considering it has three horns on its face.
Learn even more dinosaur terms from the American Museum of Natural History.
3. A word puzzle.
To solve a rebus, consider not just the words, but the placement, size, color, and quantity of everything within the box (and sometimes just outside the box!) when trying to decipher the puzzle.
4. A fun fact.
Colorado's state flower is the Colorado Blue Columbine. The state bird is the Lark Bunting and the state animal is the Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep. Do you know that our state has an official fossil too?
The Stegosaurus is Colorado’s official state fossil, thanks to a fourth-grade class at McElwain Elementary School in Thornton. After learning that Colorado had a state animal, a state bird, and a state flower, they decided that the Stegosaurus should be Colorado's state fossil because the first-ever Stegosaurus skeleton was found near Morrison.
Students spent two years petitioning and writing letters to members of the state legislature, even going so far as dressing in Stegosaurus costumes and hosting a dinosaur-themed lunch. Although the state legislature never passed a bill, Governor Lamm made it official by signing an executive order on April 28, 1982, at McElwain Elementary School.
Learn about other state fossils at Dino-Kidz.com and visit Dinosaur Ridge in Morrison for even more dinosaur fun.
5. Teach a personal discovery.
When I think about dinosaurs I often imagine enormous, wide-spanning creatures, but it turns out that many dinosaurs were actually quite small. Velociraptors, for example, didn't get much bigger than 1.5 ft tall.
Are you the same height as a dinosaur? Check your height against a variety of Jurassic Park dinosaurs using this Dinosaur Sizing Chart from Wikipedia. At 5'5" tall, I am taller than a Pachycephalosaurus!
"Let your heart guide you. It whispers, so listen closely." – Littlefoot's Mother in The Land Before Time
