Dinosaurs of China

Over the summer we visited the Dinosaurs of China exhibit in Nottingham. It was great, a beautifully laid out museum with wonderful information and clarity of purpose.

I loved learning about the links between birds and dinosaurs and so did Pickle and Penguin. The fossils they had were amazing and clearly showed the features of dinosaurs reflected in modern birds.

They also had a fantastic tent outside with perfectly pitched activities for the kids to extend their learning through playing with various resources.

All in all a wonderful day and learning experience. Did you take any interesting trips over the summer? I would love to hear about them. Until next time. x

30 Days Wild - Day 23

Today we made an assault course in the back garden for all of the dinosaur and animal toys. We used sticks and stones, hay and even a few petals from a past-its-best rose. Later I also added a tray with water for them to wade through. At the end we placed our paper mache cave for all the animals to hide in.

This kept Pickle and Penguin amused for quite a while. They really enjoyed setting it up and making the dinosaurs and animals run through it.

Making Fossils

Did I mention Pickles love for Dinosaurs? I did? It is a sickness I tell you!

He likes to 'hunt' for fossils and explore his 'objects' (his term not mine!) with his magnifying glass. We have been talking a little bit about how the fossils were made. He is 3 so we are talking basic stuff...

Anyway I thought it would be fun for the kids to make their own fossils. It is really simple to create a little cast, I think I will repeat the idea looking at footprints like the ones we found on the beach on the Isle of Wight.

Pickle and Penguin both chose a shell and made an imprint of it in some air dry clay. I then mixed some plaster of paris and they very carefully helped me to pour it into the imprint. We left it until the next day and then were able to uncover our fossils! Penguin loves to look at them, she points and says 'my fossil, mine.'

A nice little activity, pretty clean too. I was careful to mix the plaster of paris myself as there are hazards so just make sure you read the packaging before using and take necessary precautions.

Until next time...