Dinosaurs | KS1 Topic | Ages 5-7

Science

What were dinosaurs?

Image of a stegosaurus with red spikes and a dark and light green skin chewing some plants. It also has yellow spikes on its tail.

Dinosaurs were big reptiles that lived a long, long time ago.

Some dinosaurs were huge and others were small. Some ate plants and others ate meat.

Most dinosaurs were wiped out after an asteroid hit the Earth.

However, one group survived and these became the birds that we see all around us today.

What are some different types of dinosaurs?

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Dinosaurs came in many different shapes and sizes. Some were as tall as buildings and had sharp teeth, like the Tyrannosaurus rex.
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Some dinosaurs were small and some dinosaurs, like Archaeopteryx and Yi, could even fly.
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Many dinosaurs had long tails, like the Tsagantegia. Tsagantegia also had special armour all over its body to defend itself from other dinosaurs.

Activity: Dinosaur quiz

What did dinosaurs eat?

Most dinosaurs were thought to eat plants. Some ate meat and a few ate both.

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Triceratops
Dinosaurs that ate plants were called 'herbivores'. Triceratops is an example of a herbivore.
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Velociraptor
Animals that eat other animals are called 'carnivores'. Velociraptor is an example of a carnivore. Carnivores do not eat plants.
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Oviraptor
Most dinosaurs were either herbivores or carnivores. However, a very small amount ate both plants and animals. Animals that eat both plants and animals are called 'omnivores'. Oviraptor is an example of an omnivore

Key Vocabulary

Word	Definition
Reptiles	A group of animals with scaly skin, like Lizards. Baby reptiles are born from eggs.
Extinct	Living things that no longer exist.

Play: Dinosaur Discovery

Work scientifically and become a dinosaur expert!

In this dinosaur game learn about:

The Cretaceous period and its dinosaurs
The Jurassic period and its dinosaurs

Geography

Where did the dinosaurs come from?

Image of Pangaea. This is labelled with Eurasia, North America, South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia and India.

From studying fossils, we know that dinosaurs lived all over the world.

At first, they lived in what is now called South America, and then spread across the globe more than 200 million years ago.

At that time, the countries and continents were joined together in a single stretch of land called Pangaea.

Where did dinosaurs live?

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Land dinosaurs
Land dinosaurs lived on all types of land, such as wetlands, in the forests, in the desert, and even in the North and South Poles. Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus rex were land dinosaurs.
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Pterosaurs
Pterodactyl was a not a dinosaur, but a flying reptile. They flew through the air with large wings, which were around 9 metres across.
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Marine reptiles
Ichthyosaurus was a marine reptile that lived at sea. It eat fish and squid-like shellfish.

Where can dinosaur fossils be found today?

Image of people walking on a beach in Lyme Regis

There are some places where many fossils can be found, just like in Lyme Regis, in the south of England.

The cliffs and beaches of Lyme Regis are part of an area called The Jurassic Coast, which shows how the land has changed over about 150 million years.

Fossils such as ammonites show up regularly on the beach in Lyme Regis.

Ammonites look like snails, but were actually sea creatures a bit like squid with a curvy shell.

History

How do we know about dinosaurs?

Animated image of a dinosaur skeleton with people looking at it.

As dinosaurs are extinct, we can’t find out about them from watching them like we do with other animals. Instead, we find out about dinosaurs by studying fossils.

A fossil is the preserved remains of a living thing that have turned into rock after being buried in the ground for a long time.