Dinosaur Planet Homework
These projects are not compulsory but just give you some ideas for fun family
learning. Please note the projects are left as open ended as possible so that you can
go as far as you like with your child.












Work with grown-ups at home to research more amazing facts about the age of the
dinosaurs.
Visit a tropical animal centre or shop to have a closer look at some modern day
reptiles.
Take some photographs to show your class.
Take Dino the dinosaur home for a night and write in his diary about what he got up
to!
Find non-fiction books at home (or in the local library) about dinosaurs. Bring them
into school to share!
Hunt for ferns, yew trees, monkey puzzle trees and other prehistoric plants while
you’re out and about. You might even find ornamental ferns in your family’s and
friends’ houses.
Create a dinosaur mask or hat and bring it into school for a Dinosaur Parade!
Watch birds in your garden or local park. Look at them closely with binoculars. Do
you think they walk like dinosaurs?
Work with an adult to produce your own dinosaur movie or show using toys, puppets
or models. Evergreen bushes or a rocky or dusty area of your garden or local park
would make perfect film sets!
Share stories and poems about dinosaurs with your grown-ups. Take on the role
of storyteller for any younger members of your family.
Entertain your family and friends by reading them some side-splitting dinosaur jokes
or astounding dinosaur facts!
Take part in a Dinosaur Reading Challenge. Every time you read a book at home,
you’ll earn a piece of a cut-up dinosaur picture. Stick them on a dinosaur outline and
see how long it takes you to make the whole picture!
















Dinosaurs were the dominant vertebrates on Earth for about 130 million years during the
Mesozoic era. This era was divided into the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.
Small, fast-moving dinosaurs appeared for the first time in the Triassic period (248-208
million years ago).
During the Jurassic period (208-146 million years ago), more dinosaurs – some of them the
biggest dinosaurs of all – roamed the earth.
Dinosaurs flourished in the Cretaceous period (146-65 million years ago). At the end of the
Mesozoic era, the dinosaurs died out in a major extinction.
A scientist who studies dinosaurs and ancient life is known as a palaeontologist (pay-lee-ontol-o-jist).
The word ‘dinosaur’ comes from the Greek language and means ‘terrible lizard’. The word
was first used by an English palaeontologist, Richard Owen, in 1842 and referred to the
dinosaurs’ impressive size rather than their scary looks!
Of the 700+ species of dinosaur identified and named so far, around 90% have been
discovered since 1990.
Dinosaurs lived on every continent of the world – even Antarctica.
The longest ever dinosaur was the Seismosaurus, measuring over 40 metres from nose to tail
tip. That’s as long as five buses!
At 80 tonnes Brachiosaurus was the heaviest dinosaur, weighing as much as 17 African
elephants!
The longest dinosaur name was Micropachycephalosaurus. Its name means ‘small, thickheaded lizard’.
The name ‘dinosaur’ only refers to land-dwelling reptiles. Flying animals such as
pterodactyls and water-based reptiles such as plesiosaurs weren’t dinosaurs but were reptiles
that lived in the age of the dinosaurs.
Some of the largest dinosaurs (such as Brachiosaurus and Apatosaurus) were plant eaters.
A Tyrannosaurus rex had over 60 conical teeth, each growing up to nearly 25cm. Those
mighty gnashers meant T. Rex could crush and break bones as it devoured a massive 230kg
of meat in one bite. (That’s quite a mouthful!)
Unlike humans who only get two sets of teeth in their life, dinosaurs could replace their teeth
anytime they lost them!
Many plant-eating dinosaurs had natural weapons, for example, Stegosaurus is famous for its
tail spikes and Triceratops had three sharp horns on the front of its head shield. They used

their body weapons to ward off meat-eating dinosaurs like the Allosaurus or Spinosaurus who
wanted them for dinner!
The Troodon, a human-sized, Cretaceous therapod is thought to be the most intelligent of all
the dinosaurs with a big brain compared to its body. It might have been about as intelligent as
a modern-day bird.