How big were the dinosaurs?

STEM VOCABULARY

DINOSAUR FOOTPRINT MEASURING

YOU WILL NEED

• Rulers & Metre sticks

• Dinosaur footprints

• Dino Measuring Chart

• Paper, pencils & scissors (to make your own prints)

CURRICULUM LINKS

SCIENCE: Animals Inc Humans (all years) Rocks & Soils (year 3) Evolution & Inheritance (year 6)

MATHS: Problem solving Measurement: length & height Estimation

ICT: Use search technologies effectively

• Paleontologist - a scientist who studies fossils

• Stride - the distance between

footprints

• Trackway - a path formed by the repeated treading of people or animals

• Vertebrate - an animal with a backbone

• Bipedal - an animal that walks on 2 legs

• Estimation - a rough calculation of a number or value

• Footprint - an impression left by a foot on a surface

• Fossil - the preserved remains or impression of a prehistoric plant or animal, embedded in rock

HOW TO DO IT

1) Locate your footprints (these may be

impressions within the school grounds or to-

scale paper versions)

2) Measure and record the length of each dinosaur

footprint from the back of the heel to the tip

of its centre claw.

3) Multiply the length of the footprint by 4 to get

the hip height

4) Multiply the length of the footprint by 10 to

get the head-to-tail height.

5) Find out how many of your footprints fit inside

each dinosaur footprint.

Step 2

Step 3

X4

Step 4

X10

INVESTIGATE

Use chalk to draw the length of

each dinosaur on the playground.

How many children lying down fit

the length of each dinosaur?

Use a trackway of footprints to

calculate if the dinosaur was

walking, trotting or running (see

resource)

WHAT ARE WE LEARNING?

This activity will help children to visualise the scale of the

dinosaurs in relation to themselves.

In doing so they will apply the mathematical skills of

measuring and estimating in order to solve a problem.

DINOSAUR PICTURE LENGTH OF FOOTPRINT

HEAD TO TAIL HEIGHT

Stegosaurus

35cm

Tyrannosaurus Rex

46cm

Velociraptor

18cm

Ultrasaurus

3.5m

Now have a go at researching the footprint length of other dinosaurs!

STRIDE LENGTH & HIP HEIGHT SPEED

Less than 2.0 Walking

Between 2.0 and 2.9 Trotting

More than 2.9 Running

DINOSAUR FOOTPRINT MEASURING RESOURCES