Pre-Prep Blog: Adventures with Dinosaurs

Last Tuesday the Reception classes went on a ‘Dinosaur adventure’ to Trelissick Gardens. Pupils worked in small groups of four and each looked for various natural objects to use to measure our dinosaurs. There was lots of discussion about what would be a good unit to measure with; would it be acorns, leaves, sticks or beechnuts? After they had made their choices some groups had to adapt their ideas as the wind came to play. The groups did lots of critical thinking together and decided to solve this problem by building stick windbreaks. Once these were in place they were able to successfully measure the dinosaurs and compare their different lengths. All this maths and measuring made built up quite an appetite, so they all made their way back to the stable to settle down for a picnic.

Once refuelled the children were keen to get busy once more and face their second challenge of the day, which was to think about somewhere suitable to make a dinosaur home. There was lots of very thought provoking discussion about how it might look and where it should be and most importantly, how soft a dinosaur’s bed should be. This led to lots of discussion about types of homes that people live in and so once back to school they looked at examples of other people’s homes around the world. The children offered some excellent ideas as to why some people in Indonesia might live in a jungle tree house, the top of the list being ‘because they want to have a nice view.’ It was a really enjoyable trip, which really challenged their thinking and showed their problem solving skills.

For a full gallery of images, click here.