Our Dinosaur Story
We were working on our green flag and had been talking to the children about recycling and
what it meant. We explained that recycling is when we use something again. Venessa
brought in some cardboard boxes for the children to see if they could find a use for them
again. At free play the children were very excited to start playing with the boxes.
Jamie put two boxes together and said ‘look
a robot’, Kayleigh and Natasha took turns
sitting in a box saying ‘it’s our house’, Shane
sat in a box saying ‘brum, brum, look
Aishling, I’m driving a racing car’.
Jerome kept climbing inside the big boxes
and pretended to be a dinosaur. Shane said
‘stay there I put this on’ and place a box on
top of Jerome and said ‘where Jerome gone’,
Jerome jumped out ‘boo’ and both children
started to laugh.
Mary – Kate said ‘ Why don’t we
make something big with them’, the
children agreed so we asked them all
to think about what they would like
to build and we would decide by
taking a vote at circle time the next
day. The following day we took out
our voting cards, we asked the
children for their suggestions and
wrote them on the board. We had, a
robot, a house, a car, a dinosaur, a
tractor, a castle. The children used
their voting cards and show of hands
to decide which to do. The majority
voted for making a dinosaur.
.
Some children knew a lot about
dinosaurs while other children did
not so we asked our expert Sam if
he would help us get to know the
different dinosaurs as he knew all
their names. We got some books
and posters and also used our toy
dinosaurs to help us.
The children got the toy dinosaurs
and found the pictures that looked
like them and then Sam would tell us
their names as he was also teaching
the adults as we were finding it hard
to pronounce their names, anytime
we were unsure we would ask Sam.
The children decided that a T-Rex was
their favourite and all decided to make
this. The children began to gather up the
boxes and place them on top from largest
to smallest. They worked together
deciding where the boxes should go and
trying out different ways. It was getting
taller and children were finding it hard to
reach and the boxes kept falling down. ,
Jamie had a box ‘I’m putting it here it is
the body’, Shane ‘yeah and this is the
head’ as he placed a box on top of Jamie’s
box, they both giggled.
They helped each other, Shane ‘It’s to high’, Sam ‘I help you’, Jamie ‘why not try it this way’,
Shane ‘ok’.They were having some problems putting him together, Ashyn suggested ‘lie him
on the floor and stick him together’, ‘how’ asked Jamie, ‘with tape’ suggested Mary – Kate.
We took out the masking tape and the children began to stick the dinosaur together, ‘What
are those’ Said Alannah, ‘they’re his feet’
said Kayleigh
We need some tape here’ suggested Caoimhe and ‘over here’ said Mary- Kate, ‘I like sticking
tape’ said Anna. Sam said ‘dinosaurs have plates’, Shane gets a pencil and says ‘look, Sam I
draw the plates’,
When the dinosaur was all stuck together we lifted him up with some of the children
helping. His feet fell off and needed to be stuck back on; Kayleigh arrived over with the
doctor’s bag in case the dinosaur needed any medical attention
.
While the dinosaur was getting treatment for his feet, Ornaith decided to paint the
dinosaur. We were running out of time for that day and suggested we paint the dinosaur
tomorrow. Shane said ‘We could paint him in the garden’ All the children taught this was a
great idea. We agreed weather permitting.The following day we carried the dinosaur
outside and prepared some large paint pots with large paint brushes. Sam had informed us
that T- Rex is green so it was decided to use just green.
The children took turns in small groups to paint there was plenty of other activities still
going on in the garden for the children who were waiting or did not want to paint
The Children really enjoyed this experience as was reflected in their comments when they
were documenting this.
‘I love this painting, it was nice and fun to be outside’ Anna
‘I liked painting outside, it was fun’ Liam
‘I like painting, I like painting outside cause it’s a sunny day’ Caoimhe
‘I liked painting outside’ Erin
When the dinosaur was painted we carried him back inside to let him dry, it took two days
for him to dry. The children’s interest in dinosaurs had grown and their learning revolved
around dinosaurs and they spent time drawing dinosaurs and turned the small world area
and the sand area into dinosaur lands. We brought in more books on dinosaurs to
encourage their literacy skills
Sam and Sean were busy reading dinosaur books, Sam says ‘look Seany, this is how all the
dinosaurs died, a big bang came and made them all gone’
Sam was so interested in the
dinosaur encyclopaedia we
brought in that we allowed him
to take it home for the weekend
to show his parents. He was very
proud taking his big book home.
Finally the dinosaur was dry
The children were very happy with their work but they did notice a few things ‘he has no
eyes’ said Shane, ‘ Where are his small arms?’ asked Sam, ‘ Some dinosaurs have spots’ said
Anna, ‘ Dinosaurs have teeth’ said Shane Z, They agreed we had more work to do. Anna
suggested we glue on spots and eyes, and Jamie gave us an egg carton and said they looked
like teeth; Mary Kate found some small boxes and suggested we use them as arms and so
we all got busy again.Finally after nearly two weeks our dinosaur is complete, we asked the
children if they would like to call him after our preschool as he is their dinosaur and they all
agreed so he was named ‘BallapoustexThe children had been telling their parents all
about the dinosaur they were making so we invitedthe parents in to see Ballapoustex and
take their photo
He now stands tall for all the parents and children to see every
day in our parent’s room. We made a book of our story and sent it
home with each family to share and give some feed-back, the
parents wrote some wonderful comments in it.
The Learning,
From the very beginning this learning story highlights the way children learn and how a
curriculum needs to be flexible to adjust to the emerging interests of the children. Our
planned curriculum was to encourage recycling. We began by talking about recycling and
how we could use things again and as part of this we brought in some cardboard boxes to
encourage the children to find uses for them. The children explored the boxes and used
their imaginations to create robots, dinosaurs and cars (Exploring & Thinking Aim 1: goal 1).
The children talked to each other and interacted (Well-being Aim1: goal 1 & Communication
Aim4: goal 3)
Mary – Kate made a suggestion to make something big and the children liked her idea. This
was listened to and brought into the curriculum the following day. A referendum on
children’s rights had just taken place and children had learned about their rights and voting.
We continued to use the method of voting using voting faces the children had made. This
helped them agree on group decisions. They put up their suggestions and took a vote. This
helps the children understand they have a voice and their ideas are valued and listened to.
By taking this approach the children grow in confidence with ideas and suggestions (Identity
& Belonging Aim 1: goal 3 and Aim3: goal 2, 3)
We provided some materials to help the children decide which dinosaur they would make.
Through our observations we recognised Sam’s interest in dinosaurs and his vast
knowledge. We acknowledged that Sam was more informed than we were about dinosaurs
and allowed Sam to teach us the names of the dinosaurs and correct us with our
pronunciation. This gave Sam confidence and pride as he taught the adults. We were able to
incorporate his interests into the curriculum (Identity & Belonging Aim 1: goal 1,
Communication Aim 2: goal 2, Exploring & Thinking Aim 3: goal 2, 3)
The children decided they were making a T- Rex. They worked together in small groups, they
encountered problems, they communicated and they solved problems, they listened to each
other. The children showed excellent negotiation skills and teamwork (Exploring & Thinking
Aim2: goal 1, 2, 3)
Kayleighs arrival with the doctors bag when she had heard the dinosaurs feet had fallen off
displayed empathy and caring nature wanting to make things better (Well-being Aim 3:goal
2)
The children show confidence in making suggestions as they suggest to paint the dinosaur
and then take this further by wanting to paint him outside using green paint (Identity &
Belonging Aim 4:goal 2). They are demonstrating that they are active learners and do not
want to sit still and paint they want the freedom to move and so develop their gross motor
skills and the painting helps develop their fine motor skills, they are also making the healthy
decision to work outside ( Well – being Aim 2 :goal 1 , 2).
The creating of the dinosaur has stimulated the children’s interest in dinosaurs and they
advance their learning by using dinosaurs to draw developing their mark making skills, the
interest in dinosaurs is enhancing their literacy skills as they take an interest in the dinosaur
books and helps with their creativity as they manipulate the small world area
(Communication Aim3: goal 2 and Aim 4: goal 2, 3)
When the dinosaur was dry the children evaluated their work and decide they are not
finished. They make suggestions in relation to things that need to be added and get stuck in
straight away (Exploring & Thinking Aim 4: goal 1, 2)
Upon completion the children were very proud of their work. By inviting the parents in to
see their work and take a photo each child felt very proud. The parents were delighted to
see the dinosaur as the children had been telling them at home all about making it and we
had mentioned it several times in the daily diaries (Well-being Aim 1:goal 1 and Identity &
Belonging Aim 2 :goal 1)
What started out a recycling theme ended up in an unplanned two week dinosaur project
had we not have been flexible in our approach we would have missed a wonderful learning
opportunity. The creation of Ballapoustex incorporated all 4 themes of Aistear. This learning
story highlights the fact that children learn holistically and are active participants in their
learning.