Terry the (sand) Pterodactyl
Our Learning Story
May 2013
The following learning story evolved as we
followed the interests of many children in the
service and documented their ideas, thoughts and
knowledge in our learning journal.
Evan, Ollie, Harry, Rían, Aaron, Kyle and Tadhg
love to play with dinosaurs. One day they
brought in their own collection for a
“Dinosaur Play Day”. Lillian brought one too
and so began new learning for the
practitioners and the other children who
became involved in gathering information,
questioning, investigating and discovering
new things along the way.
Aaron informed the group that dinosaurs are parrots uncles, “that the truth” he
said, “they really are”.
Ellen told us that dinosaurs are “stinct” but Harry interrupted and said “No, the
don’t stink”. Ellen replied “No, I mean “stinct”, they were out long ago but they’re
not here anymore cos the moon crashed into the earth and the dinosaurs died”.
2
Lillian said “that’s right, the moon did crash into the earth. I know that a long time”
Evan said that he saw a film and there was a fire in the trees and the dinosaurs ran away .
There was a big flood and he thinks they all drowned.
Harry said he thinks an orange thing came out of the sky and crashed into the dinosaurs
and then the earth blew up.
“When the dinosaurs “got dead” their legs fell off and their bones broke out and they
turned into “fossums”” said Owen.
“No”, said Ellen, “they are called fossils”.
“What are fossils?” asked Aimee (4 yrs), “I never saw any in my whole life”
Ali explained to everyone that fossils are the bones of the dinosaur and in order to
consolidate this new learning she set up an activity in the art area giving each child the
opportunity to create their own fossil picture using potato prints, penne pasta and sand.
Sinéad explained that the person who digs for dinosaur bones is called a “Paleontologist”.
“I’m going to be a paleontologist when I grow up” said Ollie. “Me too”, said Harry
3
This picture shows Ollie, Gemma Rose and Kate
digging for fossils (penne pasta hidden in sand). Ellen
joined in and told us that she was looking for
dinosaur bones a couple of weeks ago and she found
the leg bone under a tree and it was so big it took her
two days to dig it up. “I think you are tricking us” said
Harry.
To re-enforce the new “big word” she had introduced, Sinéad told the children the
following rhyme:
“Dig paleontologist, dig paleontologist, find those bones so old”
This little rhyme became their mantra everyday as the children worked at the “sand pit”
digging carefully for fossils (penne pasta) hidden in the sand.
Anniemae wondered where dinosaurs lived. She thinks they
lived in a cave and in this series of photos we see Caoimhe,
Naoise and Anniemae herself using sheets and a table to
make a cave.
Harry gets another cover and tells Evan that this
can be the land, Kyle and Ollie help Harry and Evan
to spread out the land in front of the cave.
4
Aaron said that there were volcanoes where the dinosaurs
lived and off he runs to find objects that can be used for
volcanoes. I think these are good for volcanoes he said as
he brings in cones from the “Buntús bag”.
Dinny helps him to put them down.
“We need trees” said Tadhg
“I get sticks from the nature table” said Sophie, “Come on Robyn, let’s get sticks”
Soon the dinosaurs appear, we met stegosaurus, triceratops, diplodocus and
Tyrannosaurus Rex.
5
This photo shows some of the children
making a cave out of a big pot.
Ollie wondered if he could cut a piece
out of the pot to make a door and
stand the cave like this.
Ellen said maybe we could cover it with glue and newspaper like the way we made our
“Easter baskets”. “That’s a great idea” said Donna, so the children set about making a
papier maché cave.
6
Ellen and Anniemae make the doorway and presto! We have a cave!
Immediately it becomes the focus of all the children with a pterodactyl landing on the roof.
“Let’s paint it” said Naoise,
so Harry, Leah, Katie and
Naoise set to work.
Job complete!
7
Ollie told us that his favourite dinosaurs were T-Rex, king of the dinosaurs and pterodactyl.
“Pterodactyl can fly” he said. “I know that” said Harry.
Anniemae puts her small dinosaur on pterodactyls wings so he can take a ride!
Kate wondered how big a pterodactyl was so we set about showing the children the
approximate size of a pterodactyl by involving the children in representing the
measurement.
Emily lay down on the floor to form the body.
The wings of the pterodactyl were about 10 feet, so three
children lay down each side of Emily to make the wings.
Donna drew a chalk outline
of the children to allow
them to have a visual image
of the approximate size.
The children were amazed at how “Big” the
pterodactyl was and parents were invited to
view the outline.
“This pterodactyl is very small” said Daniel.
8
“Can we put sand in this shape?” asked Aaron, “so we can make a pterodactyl”.
So began our “sand project” of Pterodactyl.
The children filled buckets, carried and emptied sand to fill the outline, they patted, poked
and printed in the sand.
9
“We need to give
him eyes” said
Rían, “I’ll get
stones from the
nature table”
“This can be
his beak”
said Emily
pulling a
stick down.
Our own sand
creation of
Pterodactyl.
“He’s so big” said Harry, “but he can’t fly”
“Can we call him Terry?” asked Ollie, and so Terry the pterodactyl became our companion
for the day.
10
On a windy day Donna, Ali and Sinéad took
a small group of children outside to fly their
own pterodactyl, using plastic bags with
string attached.
Shane, a qualified and approved children’s fitness instructor joined us to deliver his
fortnightly fitness programme and on this occasion, having noted their interests, he
implemented an activity based on the dinosaur “pterodactyl” (This activity is provided by us free of charge
to the children in our service)
This activity was set to music and told the story of the baby pterodactyl who was sad
because he could not fly.
His friend told him that he would have to do his exercises to make his wings strong.
11
The children were encouraged to lie down, stand up, flap their
arms, move their elbows, stretch their legs, stand on tiptoe and
“climb trees”.
They sang the following song as they copied Shane’s movement!
“Walk, walk, walk,
Walk like a pterodactyl,
Talk, talk, talk,
Talk like a pterodactyl,
Fly, fly, fly,
Fly like a pterodactyl,
I’m gonna walk that walk,
I’m gonna talk that talk,
I’m gonna fly like a pterodactyl.”
In circle time we categorised the dinosaurs into meat eaters (carnivores) and plant
eaters (herbivores) and as having walked on two legs or four legs.
The “Age of the Dinosaur” book was purchased and put in our library and a
keepsake booklet of all our learning about the dinosaurs was made and left on
display in the service for parents and children to view, allowing for reflection and
recalling among the group thereby enhancing communicating and memory skills.
12
Links to Aistear
Well Being
The children’s gross and fine
motor skills were enhanced
through involvement in this
story. It offered
opportunity for indoor and
outdoor activity. The adults
joined in certain tasks and
the children shared their
knowledge and new learning
with their parents.. They had
the opportunity to classify,
sequence, sort, match, look
for and create patterns and
shapes. The activity enabled
the children to develop an
understanding of concepts
and measures. It built on
their natural curiosity and
helped them experiment and
investigate
1.1, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1,
3.5, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 4.6
Exploring and Thinking
Children listened and discussed things in
small group. They reflected on what they
have seen and done and they built on their
observations. The activity build on their
individual strengths and abilities and
offered opportunities for all learning styles
1.6, 2.1, 3.1, 3.2, 3.4, 4.1, 4.2, 4.6
The children share ideas,
thoughts and knowledge
about dinosaurs.
The children chose to be involved in this
activity and made suggestions and offered
their own thoughts on things. They were
encouraged and their efforts were affirmed.
1.1, 1.5, 1.6, 3.3, 3.6, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5
Identity and Belonging
The children listened to each
others views and many
offered their own opinions.
They had opportunities to
work one-to-one, in small
group and large group
situations. They were
encouraged to plan, predict
and speculate. They had the
opportunity to draw on “new
words” and explore and
understand their meaning.
This activity facilitated
children with differing
abilities to work together
creatively on a project.
2.1, 2.4, 2.5, 3.1, 3.6, 4.1, 4.2,
4.4, 4.6
Communicating
13