Curriculum links:
- National Curriculum, England - Key Stage 2 – Science
- National Curriculum, Northern Ireland - Key Stage 1 and 2 – The World Around Us
- Curriculum for Excellence, Scotland - 1st and 2nd Level – Sciences
- Curriculum for Wales - Progression steps 2 and 3 – Science & Technology
Learning objectives:
- Recognise that living things have changed over time and that fossils provide information about living things that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago.
- Describe the process of fossil formation when things that have lived are trapped within rock.
- Identify how animals and plants are adapted to suit their habitat in different ways.
- Relate physical and behavioural characteristics to the survival or extinction of an animal in an ecosystem.
What happens in the Live Lesson?
Dig into the past and bring the prehistoric world to life in your classroom!
Twenty-five years after it first stomped across our TV screens, Walking With Dinosaurs returned in 2025 and we have a new Live Lesson to celebrate.
In this curriculum-linked lesson for 7–11 year-olds, hosted by Maddie Moate and Cam Whitnall, your pupils become dino detectives and work together to solve a prehistoric puzzle using a series of clues, scientific thinking, and fossil facts.
Palaeontologist Dr Nizar Ibrahim, who appears in the main series of Walking With Dinosaurs, is on hand to guide children throughout the lesson.
Teaching Guide. document
For downloading/printing
Mission Packs
Download the Mission Pack in preparation for the Live Lesson. There are three versions available. Choose the option which best suits your needs.
Pupils are still able to participate without access to the Mission Packs. All instructions will be on screen. We recommend that pupils have a notebook and pen or pencil to hand.
Mission Pack: digital. document
Designed to be opened and edited using a tablet. Pupils will be able to type in text boxes and use the pen tool to draw.
Mission Pack: printable booklet. document
To be printed double-sided on 2 sheets of A4 paper. Fold in half to create A5 booklet. Pages are numbered and should run from 1 to 8 when one sheet is placed inside the other. Designed to support black-and-white printing.
Mission Pack: printable A4 sheets. document
This is the best option if you do not have the option to print double sided. Designed to support black-and-white printing.
Live commentary feed
This programme was pre-recorded and accompanied by a live website commentary feed for schools.
We added as many messages as we could to this live commentary page on the day of the Live Lesson.
Please do not send any more emails about this lesson, as they will not be included.
Please note this live commentary page is now closed. document
Click or tap here to see if your school has had a shout-out.
Extra resources
Recap the key points from the lesson
Keep the learning going after the lesson with a downloadable poster that sums up the key learning.
Download this to display on your classroom wall or encourage your class to make their own.
Walking With Dinosuars Live Lesson poster. image
Click here to download the Walking With Dinosuars Live Lesson poster
Walking With Dinosaurs
Walking With Dinosaurs is back with six new episodes, now available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
Stunning visual effects bring dramatic dinosaur stories to life, based on clues from extraordinary dig sites around the world.
Across the six episodes we meet a range of spectacular dinosaur species in an array of prehistoric landscapes.
Where next?
Walking With Dinosaurs. video
Stunning visual effects bring dramatic dinosaur stories to life.
BBC Live Lessons for 2025/2026. collection
Information about our 2025/2026 Live Lessons for 7-11 year olds.
BBC Bitesize: Fossils. collection
Learn more about fossils in this BBC Bitesize guide.
