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The Big Dinosaur Podcast

The Big Dinosaur Podcast

A site about dinosaurs

Fact Finding Quest: How Dinosaurs Ate (Herbivores and Omnivores)

Fact Finding Quest: How Dinosaurs Ate (Herbivores and Omnivores)

Lesson

When it comes to eating, dinosaurs, especially herbivorous (plant eating) and omnivorous (plant and animal eating) ones, had a lot of different strategies.

In many cases, what and how they ate their food depended on the shape of their bodies and their teeth.

Listen to 3 I Know Dino episodes and find 3 ways that herbivorous or omnivorous dinosaurs ate their food. Share what you learned by either creating a Google slide or discussing.

Hint, you can listen to:

Recommended For

Middle School, High School

Goals

  • Learn about the variety of ways herbivorous and omnivorous dinosaurs ate
  • Discuss your findings (sharing is caring!)

Materials

Fact Finding Quest: Three Different Dinosaurs

Fact Finding Quest: Three Different Dinosaurs

Lesson

Browse all the I Know Dino episodes (under “Materials”) and choose three different ones. Listen to an episode that features a carnivorous dinosaur, an herbivorous dinosaur, and an omnivorous dinosaur.

Create a Google slide about each and share.

  • What are some similarities and differences?
  • What did you learn?
  • Were these dinosaurs related to each other in any way? If so, how?

Recommended For

Middle School, High School

Goals

  • Practice critical thinking
  • Practice researching
  • Practice public speaking (if sharing your slide)

Materials

Arlo the Apatosaurus

Arlo the Apatosaurus

Lesson

For a lengthy lesson, watch The Good Dinosaur. Then optionally, listen to the I Know Dino discussion of The Good Dinosaur (under “Materials”).

Now draw a scientifically accurate version of Arlo from The Good Dinosaur.

For inspiration, watch The Doodling Dino’s version (under “Materials”).

Recommended For

Elementary, Middle School

Goals

  • Compare and contrast Arlo to what we know about real Apatosaurus
  • Practice critical thinking

Materials

The Real Velociraptor

The Real Velociraptor

Image courtesy of Fred Wierum, via Wikimedia Commons

Lesson

Velociraptor in real life was much smaller than how it was depicted in the movie Jurassic Park. Listen to the Velociraptor dinosaur of the day segment in I Know Dino (under “Materials”).

  • For elementary students: Draw Velociraptor, based on what you learned in the episode.
  • For middle school students: Write a short description of Velociraptor, and answer the question: what modern animals were similar in size to Velociraptor?
  • Bonus: Some people say the Velociraptor in Jurassic Park is similar to the real dinosaur Utahraptor. Listen to the interview with Dr. Jim Kirkland and the dinosaur of the day segment on Utahraptor (under “Materials”) to learn more.

Recommended For

Elementary, Middle School

Goals

  • Compare and contrast scientifically accurate Velociraptor with the movie version of Velociraptor
  • Practice critical thinking

Materials

Birds Are Dinosaurs

Birds Are Dinosaurs

Image courtesy of toony et svtiste, via Wikimedia Commons

Lesson

Birds are dinosaurs! Technically, the non-avian dinosaurs went extinct 66 million years ago (like T. rex and Triceratops). But avian dinosaurs (birds) evolved from non-avian dinosaurs and are still around.

The next time you have chicken or turkey or another type of bird for dinner, clean and save the bones and use them to build your own (non-avian) dinosaur.

Bonus: Look up images of non-avian dinosaur skeletons and compare their bones to the bones you collected.

Recommended For

Elementary, Middle School, High School

Goals

  • Observe the similarities between birds and non-avian dinosaurs
  • Learn about evolution

Materials

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