DINOSAUR MEASURING

How big were the dinosaurs

compared to us?

STEM VOCABULARY

YOU WILL NEED

• Dino lengths resource

• Trundle wheels

• Tape Measures

• Chalk

CURRICULUM LINKS

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

MATHS: Measuring (length) Mental Maths Estimation Data Handling (graphs)

• SKELETON – a framework of bones supporting the body or an animal or plant.

• TRUNDLE WHEEL – a measuring device used to measure a distance.

• DINOSAUR – a fossil reptile of the Mesozoic era.

• EXTINCT – a species with no living members.

• PALEONTOLOGIST - a scientist who studies fossils

HOW TO DO IT

1) Pick a starting point to begin the measuring

from.

2) Chn to work in pairs. One should use a trundle

wheel or tape measure to measure out the

length of a dinosaur. The other should mark

this in chalk.

3) Continue to measure out the length of different

dinosaurs, labelling each one. Get children to

double check each others measurements.

4) Compare the measurements. Which is longest?

Which is smallest?

5) EXTENSION: How much longer is each dinosaur

than you? Chn could either lie down on the

chalk to work this out or calculate their own

measurement and use their mental maths skills

to solve the problem.

Step 3

INVESTIGATE

Now create a graph to show

the different dinosaur lengths.

Research even more dinosaurs

and investigate how their

length compares to yours.

WHAT ARE WE LEARNING?

This activity will help children to visualise just how much taller the dinosaurs were than us. They will

apply their measuring skills.

Paleontologists have been able to find out the length of the dinosaurs

from studying their skeletons.

DINOSAUR LENGTH (metres) LENGTH (feet)

Diplodocus 27 m 89 ft

Tyrannosaurus Rex 15.2 m 50 ft

Velociraptor 1.8 m 6 ft

Ultrasaurus 30.5 m 100 ft

Triceratops 7.9 m 26 ft

Stegosaurus 9.1 m 30 ft

Brachiosaurus 30.5 m 100 ft

DINOSAUR MEASURING

Use a trundle wheel or tape measure to measure out the length of each of these dinosaurs. Draw their length in chalk on the ground.