Performance Information:
 

Dinosaur Babies is a show about baby dinosaurs and family behavior. It consists of songs with hand, rod, string and body puppets; and active audience participation. The order of the Songs and Puppets:

1.) Baby Emma P
2.) Dinosaur Babies S
3.) Tiny Little Babies & The Great Big Mama S w/Danny Diplodocus P
3.) I’m Just Followin’ Mom (Doris the Stegosaurus) S&P
4.) The Quetzalcoatlus Kid S&P
5.) Mama Maiasaura S&P
6.) Crash-Boom-Bam Sam (Sam Triceratops) S&P
8.) Big Bad Baby Rex S&P
9.) Dinosaur Babies (reprise)

BACKGROUND: Millions of years ago the earth was very different from what it is today. The climate was much hotter and damper. The oceans were warm and shallow. Volcanoes erupted with dynamic regularity. Lush vegetation grew in coastal forests. Giant ferns flourished in swampy areas. Exotic creatures filled the seas, land and skies. Into this growing and expanding world stepped..........
The Dinosaurs! They lived on earth for about 140 million years, from 225 million to 65 million years ago.
Dinosaurs laid eggs. Although the largest dinosaurs, the sauropods, grew to be 130 feet long or 80 feet tall, the eggs they laid were comparatively so small that scientists believe sauropod babies were the tiniest babies in relation to the size of their mothers who ever lived. And although thousands of fossils of grown up dinosaurs have been unearthed, fossils of baby dinosaurs are rarer; perhaps because their bones were too fragile to become fossilized. No one knows for sure.
Scientists draw conclusions about baby dinosaur behavior based on the fossil data they find and by comparing them to babies of animal and bird species living today who resemble the dinosaurs.

FYI: Preliminary Briefing
WHAT MAKES A DINOSAUR A DINOSAUR?
1.) All dinosaurs lived during the Mesozoic Era.
2.) All dinosaurs walked fully erect.
3.) All dinosaurs lived on land: no wings, no paddles.
4.) All dinosaurs had special skeletal features; i.e. unique
skull openings.

A Finger Play: HOMER AND GODZILLA by Marc Spiegel © 1981 (used with permission)
 

(appropriate for PreK - First Grade)
 

Homer was an apatosaurus, happy as can be.
Dancing gently through the forest, singing merrily.
He went, "Ladadada, deeda dada deeda dada dum."
When, suddenly, from behind a tree, the mean Godzilla jumped.
Homer was so friendly, saying, "Hi! How do you do?"
Godzilla answered,
"COME HERE, KID. I'M GONNA STOMP ALL OVER YOU."
Homer said to himself, "Godzilla's got me in a pickle."
"There's only one way out of this, which is to charge and tickle!"

And so he ran up to Godzilla, and tickled underneath his chin...
Behind his ears ... and everywhere.
He was all over him.... tickle, tickle, tickle.
Godzilla snickered ...... hee, hee, hee.
Godzilla giggled ........ ho, ho, ho.
And then he lost control.
He laughed out loud...... ha, ha, ha.
It knocked him down ..... ho, ho, ho.
And on the ground he rolled.

Homer just went dancing off, without even looking back.
"Ladadada, deeda dada, deeda dada dum."
While Godzilla laughing till today,
From the mighty tickle attack.
"Ho, ho, ho, ho .......Ha, ha, ha, ha .......Hee, hee, hee, hee ...."

 

MORE BACKGROUND INFORMATION
 

1. Dinosaur Names: Show pictures of dinosaurs and practice the names with your class. One of the things children seem to love most about dinosaurs is the jawbreaking, tongue–twisting names given to them by the scientists who discover them.
Examples:
Tyrannosaurus rex (tye–RAN–uh–sawr–us rex)
The name means 'tyrant king'. The T. rex was one of the largest and most famous carnosaurs that ever walked on earth.

Stegosaurus (STEG–o–sawr–us) means roofed lizard, referring to the plates on its back that looked like little roofs. This gentle planteater had a brain the size of a golf ball. Scientists believe that the plates on the stegosaur’s back served as solar heating panels to help regulate body temperature.

2. Dinosaur Sounds: Scientists believe that dinosaurs made many sounds that animals of today make. Practice dinosaur "talking" with the children. This is a wonderful avenue for creative sounds, since no one ever heard them. We can't be sure exactly how they sounded.

3. Dinosaur Movement: Sauropods vs Theropods
Sauropods
(sawr–OP–odd) or "Lizard–footed" were the 4 footed, plant–eating dinosaurs. They had huge bodies, long necks, whip like tails and elephant like legs. To get the feel of walking like a sauropod the children can slither their backbones up and down while walking in slow motion. Or link all the children together in a straight line and move them in a wave pattern as a unit.

Theropods
(the–ROP–od) or "Beast–footed" were two legged carnosaurs, who walked on strong hind legs with their bodies bent over parallel to the ground. Most had short arms and tiny hands. The children can stomp around the room, growling, to show off their powerful teeth. Most children love T.rex, the most famous theropod of all, because he was so invincible. He is, however, no longer considered the largest carnosaur; since digs in North Africa and South America unearthed the Carcharodontosaurus and the Giganotosaurus respectively.

 

HOW DO WE KNOW THAT DINOSAURS WERE HERE?
 

A. Discuss fossils with the children – Fossils are dinosaur leftovers.

Suggestion: Using modeling clay and plastic dinosaur models, make your own fossils by pressing the dinosaur models into the clay. The impression left in the clay is a reasonable facsimile of a fossil.
Note: Dinosaur fossils include: Bones, Teeth, Eggs, Skin,Footprints,Imprints of skeletons left in rocks, and dinosaur dung.
 

WERE DINOSAUR BABIES ANYTHING LIKE HUMAN BABIES?
 

A. Baby dinosaurs were similar in some ways to most mammalian
newborns. And, in particular, to human babies in these ways:
1. Dinosaur babies had large eyes compared to the size of their heads, and large heads compared to the size of their bodies. Thus, they were probably considered "cute".
2. They probably cried whenever they were hungry or sleepy.
3. They probably learned a lot through imitation.
4. They probably had very good survival instincts.

5. Many kinds of dinosaur were cared for by their parents.
6. All dinosaurs started out very small in relation to the size of their parents.

 

HOW WERE DINOSAURS BORN?
 

A. For many years paleontologists had little evidence that dinosaurs were hatched from eggs. Once they did find fossilized eggs, they then had no evidence that dinosaurs were good parents. All that changed when Jack Horner discovered "Egg Mountain" in Montana and began his now famous study of maiasaura nests, eggs, and fossilized embryos. Now scientists are theorizing that most dinosaurs were very good moms and dads.

B. Sauropod (long neck dinosaurs) eggs were a little smaller than a football. But the sauropod mom could be 110' long. So the parenting problem could have been as simple as locating the hatchlings!

C. Activity: Using a sock, make a hand puppet of a baby diplodocus. An important step in making the puppet is remembering that the sauropod's nose is on top of its head, just above the eyes. Felt or button eyes should be large and focused, so the puppet looks like he's looking. Before gluing or sewing them on be sure that the puppet is looking at you.
Now make a papier mache egg over a large, inflated balloon.
Cut the bottom out of the egg shape after it's dry with a sharp knife. Also cut a jagged lip around the middle of the egg so the baby can pop out of the egg. Once the baby has 'hatched' he can talk baby talk, and the children can teach the baby how to say words by imitating.

 

HOW DID A BABY WITH THE BRAIN THE SIZE OF A GOLF BALL SURVIVE?
 

A. The stegosaurus was the size of a small car, yet her brain was only as big as a golf ball. So how did such a witless creature live for millions of years? They must have had really good INSTINCTS. Instinct is a word that can be very confusing for preschoolers. It sounds a lot like "stinks" and even a little like "extinct". So in our show we use all those words to try to make it clear exactly what each word means. The concept of an instinct can be very difficult for a small child to grasp. Sometimes 6th graders can't even explain it, if you ask for a definition. So we try to use as many examples of 'good instincts' as possible.

B. Make a 'Big Book' of as many animals as you can find pictures of in magazines and find out what they do instinctively. Explore the various 'good instincts' of each animal with the children.
ie. Some songbirds know their song by instinct. Some songbirds have to be taught their song by their parents.
 

HOW DO WE KNOW THAT BABIES WERE CARED FOR BY THE HERD?
 

A. Among the fossil clues that can be very helpful to paleontologists, some of the best clues are dinosaur footprints. Scientists believe that the triceratops defended its young by 'circling the wagons' at any sign of danger from predators. The adult male triceratops would make a protective ring around the females and the young, pointing their horns out at the predator(s).
The evidence for this theory is what I call a FOOTPRINT PUZZLE.
There is such a puzzle among the visual aids in your guide.

B. On brown paper reproduce a larger version of the Footprint Puzzle, and study the puzzle with the children. Once you have pointed out that the large footprints belong to triceratops and the three-toed footprints belong to T.rex, ask leading questions of the children:
i.e. Which way was the triceratops facing? Can you show me? When all the directions of the footprints have been determined, get the children up to 'act out' the puzzle. If you call it a 'photo op' then there won't be a need for any real action. Once you've set up the posed characters (Adult male triceratops, female and young, T.rex) you can take real or pretend photos of the tableau.

 

WHY WERE THE T.rex ARMS SO SMALL?
 

A. T.rex did not travel in a herd. Although tons of dinosaur fossils have been unearthed in the last 100 years, fossils of T.rex are rare. In 1995 in the Black Hills of South Dakota Sue Hendrickson discovered what is now called “T.rex Sue” (named after her discoverer) Sue is the largest and most complete T.rex skeleton yet found. It now lives at the Field Museum in Chicago. It’s fossils are still being analyzed. It will certainly help to explain why one of the largest meat eaters who ever lived had such puny little hands and arms, since they found one of Sue’s arms complete with claws, the first such find in history.
B. Activity: T.rex Tracks - Using masking tape, mark off the stride of a T. rex. Put one footprint down with 3 strips of tape in a fan effect, each about a foot long. Then mark off 12 to 16 feet and put another footprint down. If T.rex was walking the footprints will be closer together. If he's running, they'll be farther apart, the longer the stride, the faster the animal is going. Then have the children count off how many strides they have to take to equal one stride of 'ole T.rex.

 

WERE DINOSAURS GOOD PARENTS?
 

A. Explain to the children that the Maiasaura was a very good mother.
1. Recite or sing this lyric:

O Mama Maiasaur, Mama Maiasaura.
O Mama Maiasaur, Mama Maiasaura.
You’re a good mother: Yes, there is no other,
Like Mama Maiasaura.
You’re a good Mother: Yes, there is no other,
Like Mama Maiasaura.

2. Play the song for the children and encourage them to sing on the chorus.
3. Now tell the story of Mama Maiasaura with the children.

THE STORY: A Mama Maiasaura had a nest full of twenty babies! And she loved them. One day she was down by the river, chewing on a mouthful of berries for the babies. And what happened? That’s right: She heard a funny noise, coming from the nest. She turned around and saw -- what did she see? A MEAT EATER standing right by the nest. She ran to the nest. What kind of a meat eater was it?
That’s right: It was a Troodon. She picked up her huge foot, and SPLAT!, she crushed him like a bug. Nobody messes with her babies!
4. Remind the children that the dinosaur daddies were good parents, too. In fact they often watched over the nests along with the mamas.

HOW BIG WERE THE DINOSAURS? Ways of illustrating size and shape
A. Convert the entire classroom into the inside of a large theropod (ie T.rex) 1. Hang the rib cage, heart and lungs from the ceiling.
2. Make the doorway into the dinosaur's mouth.
3. Label various areas of the classroom accordingly,i.e. the lunch table could be the stomach.
B. Dinosaur strides: Using masking tape, plant one foot of the T. rex down on the floor. Then count out 16 feet to another place in the room, where another foot print will go. Have the children count how many strides of theirs equals one stride of T. rex.
C. Sooo Big!: Using your school building, mark off the length of a large sauropod in the hallway of the school. The diplodocus was 90’ long.

Other Examples: Triceratops/dump truck. Stegosaurus/Volkswagen Bug

FLYING REPTILES - The Quetzalcoatlus

A. The Quetzalcoatlus (ket zal co AT’ lus) was a kind of a pterosaur. It lived at the same time as the dinosaurs, but was not a dinosaur. It was the largest creature that ever flew, with a wing span of about 40 feet. Even though scientists are relatively sure that dinosaurs evolved into birds, the largest natural flyer - QE,
the Quetzalcoatlus Kid - was neither a dinosaur nor a bird.

B. Pterodactyls are a kind of pterosaur (flying reptile). Using the pattern provided in
this outline, make small pterodactyls out of construction paper or manila folders.
Keep in mind that the pterodactyl was the size of a sparrow.

C. To help the children understand just how wide the wing flaps of the quetzalcoatlus
were, try drawing on the playground with chalk a slightly curved line about 18’
long. Explain to the children that it represents the little finger bone of the
quetzalcoatlus. They can then compare it with their own pinky fingers.

D. Play “flying music” and let the children fly their paper pterodactyls around the room. Remember pterosaurs did not flap their wings rapidly like birds. They
glided and flapped a little. They did not have the musculature to flap their wings
rapidly. A good rule for flying .... the dactyls should never run into each other!

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:
1. Where did the dinosaurs live?
2. What did the plant eaters eat?
3. What did the meat eaters eat?
4. Who decides what to name the dinosaurs when they are found?
5. What is your favorite dinosaur? Why?

WORDS THAT WILL BE IMPORTANT:
Museum – A place that collects and exhibits works and things of historical, scientific and artistic value.
Fossil – Dinosaur leftovers. Any remains of an organism of a past geological age. ie. a leaf imprint
Extinct – No longer living
Paleontologist – A dinosaur scientist, who studies dinosaurs.
Mesozoic Era – The time when dinosaurs lived on the earth. Includes: Triassic Period (early period)
Jurassic Period (middle period)
Cretaceous Period (last era of the dinosaurs.)

The best source of dinosaur names, how to pronounce them and what they mean is found in......
The New Illustrated Dinosaur Dictionary by Helen Roney Sattler (see bibliography)

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
 

Aliki. Dinosaurs Are Different. Harper and Row. New York, 1985.
––– Dinosaur Bones. Thomas Y. Crowell. New York, 1988.
––– Digging Up Dinosaurs. Harper and Row. New York, 1988.
––– Fossils Tell of Long Ago. Thomas Y. Crowell. New York, 1990. (revised version)

Booth, Jerry. The Big Beast Book: Dinosaurs and How They Got That Way. Little, Brown & Co. Boston, 1988.

Dodson, Peter and Peter Lerangis. Giant Dinosaurs. Scholastic Book. New York, 1990.
*––––– Baby Dinosaurs. Scholastic Books. New York, 1990. .

*Penner, Lucille Recht. Dinosaur Babies. Random House. New York, 1991.

*Sattler, Helen Roney. Baby Dinosaurs. Lothrop, Lee & Shepard. New York, 1984.
Sattler, Helen Roney. The New Illustrated Dinosaur Dictionary. Lothrop Lee and Shepard. New York, 1990.

*Silverman, Maida. Dinosaur Babies. Simon & Schuster. New York, 1988.

POP UP BOOKS:
Moseley, Keith. Dinosaurs: A Lost World. Putnam & Sons. New York, 1984. (Has really useful info about dinosaurs.)

–––––––– The Flight of The Pterosaurs. The Smithsonian Institution. Washington D.C., 1986.
* These are the only 4 books I have found specifically about dinosaur babies.

 

Dinosaurs On The Internet:
 

Due to the linking capabilities of most web sites I have chosen three well connected sites that appeal to children as well as adults, and are capable of leading dinosaur fans to all the best dino web pages.

http://www.dinodon.com - Dino Don is actually Don Lessem, founder of the Dinosaur Society, an organization for professional and amateur paleontologists. His web site is very "kid friendly" , containing a special page of Kid's Art and what he calls "Cool Stuff". Along with current news and a dino dictionary there is a links page with everything from the Maryland Science Center and the University of California Museum of Paleontology at Berkeley (an excellent site) to Dinosaur Cartoons and Beri's Dinosaur World Magazine. The page about scientists is particularly interesting because Dino Don knows all of them personally. He has been a science writer for about 20 years and written many books on dinosaurs.

http://www.dinosauria.com - For the hardcore dinosaur fanatics this web site is like a walk through paradise. They have a store page and a dispatch page with updates on new digs and revised conclusions from collecting new data. They have a huge "Hot Links" page that contains some very interesting references. My impression is that most of the articles and links belong to practicing paleontologists and so the newest of the new discoveries and a window into the debatable dinosaur mysteries that scientists are currently researching and thinking about are on this web site. It's not for small children per se, but fifth and sixth graders who really love science will find this site irresistible.

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs - I found this site quite by accident while I was browsing one day on the web. There is a special page for dinosaur extremes with brightly colored icons of the individual record holders, and there are templates of individual dinosaurs that can be downloaded for "noncommercial educational uses only". This site was designed for children. The facts are up to date and updated regularly.

http://www.dinorock.com - Our web site is about our shows, our recordings and our puppet making. The children might enjoy looking at it after we’ve been at the school.
You can always reach us through our email at: dinorock@earthlink.net