JANUARY 2013
The Wonderful Dinosaur!
Dinosaurs are fun to study! Scientists have discovered many things about these wonderful animals!
When did dinosaurs live?
Dinosaurs lived on the earth a very long time ago. They are all dead now. The last ones died
about 65 million years ago. They were the biggest land animals to ever live upon the earth.
When dinosaurs lived, there were no people yet.
Were there many kinds of dinosaurs?
There were hundreds of different kinds of dinosaurs. We know what dinosaurs looked like
from their skeletons. Scientists have studied the bones and have learned many things.
Did all the kinds of dinosaurs live at the same time?
We know that all the different kinds of dinosaurs didn't live at the same time. One kind would
die out, and another kind would develop. The "Dinosaur Age" is divided into three time periods. They are the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The first dinosaurs lived near the
end of the Triassic period. One of the first dinosaurs was the Herrerasaurus. It lived about 230
million years ago. One of the last kinds was the Tyrannosaurus.
Did dinosaurs lay eggs?
Dinosaur babies were hatched from eggs. Some dinosaurs lived in families. The parents took
care of and raised the children. There were very large dinosaurs and very small ones.
What did dinosaurs eat?
Some dinosaurs were vegetarians, eating only plants. Animals that eat only plants are called
"herbivores." They were peaceful animals. Most of the largest vegetarian dinosaurs died
about 140 million years ago, at the end of the Jurassic period. Soon after, smaller plant eating
dinosaurs roamed the earth. The vegetarian dinosaurs had cutting, puncturing and grinding
teeth for eating plants. Some of the larger dinosaurs had weak teeth, so they swallowed their
plants without chewing them. Other dinosaurs were meat-eaters, or "carnivores." They had
sharp, jagged teeth to tear and bite. They had sharp claws, with one large talon on each foot.
The talon was as long as five inches, and was used for slicing into the flesh of the animal to be
eaten.
Why aren't there dinosaurs now?
We do not know why the dinosaurs died. Some scientists believe they died when the earth's
climate became very cold. Others believe they were killed by poisonous plants, or that other
animals ate all the dinosaur eggs. Many scientists think perhaps a huge asteroid crashed into
the earth and killed most living things. If that did happen, we know that some animals lived
and continued to have babies. So, we still have many kinds of animals on the earth today, but
our dinosaurs are gone forever.
Snack for this month:
Chocolate Chip Cookies
just like the
Paleontologists use and
eat!!
CLOVERBUDS MEETING
SCHEDULE
DECEMBER 7
1:50
JANUARY 11
1:50
FEBRUARY 1
1:50
MARCH 8
1:50
Activities for this month:
Digging for Dinosaurs
Paleontologists have to work very long to dig out bones. They have to be very careful and
patient or the bones will break. Explain to the students that they are going to become paleontologists. Give each student a chocolate chip cookie, toothpick and napkin. Tell them to
use the toothpick to get the chocolate chips out of the cookies without breaking the chips.
When the students finish, discuss the difficulties in digging for the chips. Tell the students
that when dinosaur fossils are found in rock, the whole rock is usually carried to a museum,
where scientists can work on it using special tools.
How Tall is a Dinosaur?
What you need: Large Ball of string/Helium Balloons/Weight (balloon with sand in it)
What you do:
Measure out the height of a dinosaur in the string. Tie a couple of helium balloons to one
end and the weight to the other, let the balloons fly into the sky. The kids will see how tall
the dinosaur was from the height of the balloons.
CLOVERBUDS LEADER :Rhonda Poole
4-H AGENTS: Ms. Kori Myers and Mrs. Amy Welch
If you have any questions please contact Mrs. Rhonda at 824-0200 or
Ms. Kori at 824-1773 PLEASE NOTE: If you have a disability,
which requires special assistance for your participation in any 4-H activity, please contact Ms. Kori .