Showing posts with label dinosaurs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dinosaurs. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 28, 2024

1st June Dinosaur Day

Dinosaur Day 2024 will be observed on the 21st of May 2024 and the 1st of June 2024 . 

Even though scientists have found many dinosaur fossils dating back millions of years in different parts of the world, there is still so much that people don’t know about these majestic reptiles. 

While no one knows exactly the dates, some scientists have researched and estimated that non-bird dinosaurs probably were roaming the planet in the time range from 245 to 66 million years ago, which was still millions of years prior to human history.

It is estimated that dinosaurs became extinct from the earth around 65 million years ago, perhaps due to the impact of an asteroid, volcanic eruptions and possible climate change. Sadly, humans now can only make educated guesses about what happened to them. 

Dinosaurs are a popular topic for children of all ages. These incredible creatures spark children’s imagination and curiosity, and they offer endless learning opportunities. When children follow their interests they are more likely to maintain attention and ask questions.

The children I teach, especially the preschoolers love dinosaurs and they would be happy if I had a permanent display of dinosaur books. This year I have bought some new books:

Stomp and Chomp: My First Book of Dinosaurs  by Simon Mole and Matt Hunt.

This book is expensive but worth the money. It is amazing and the kids are fighting over who'll have it next.


A Dinosaur A Day  by Miranda Smith

This book has just been added to the PRC NSW reading list. It was shortlisted for 2023 British Book Design and Production Award – Educational Books.

The Fossil Hunter  by Kate Winter

This biography about Mary Anning has been shortlisted for the Klaus Flugge Award for a debut illustrator.

How the Dinosaurs Went Extinct  by Ame Dyckman and Jennifer Harney

In this outrageous "safety guide," a child in a museum asks their parents how the dinosaurs all became extinct. Well, their father has some theories. 


Creature Features Dinosaurs  by Natasha Durley

Each page is bursting with unusual creatures from the time of the dinosaurs, all united by a common characteristic, from long necks to terrific teeth.


Meet the Dinosaurs  by Caryl Hart and Bethan Woollvin

ZOOOOM! We're off on an exciting journey into the past to meet the amazing dinosaurs that once roamed the earth.





How Many Dinosaurs is Too Many?  by Lou Peacock and Nicola Slater

Count the dinosaurs in this fun and lively rhyming picture book!
My First Book of Dinosaurs  by Zoe Ingram

This is the third book in this very successful series.






When Dinosaurs Walked the Earth  by Sean Taylor and Zehra Hicks

This book has just won Oscar's Book Prize for 2024, an annual prize for the best picture book of the year for young children.

Dinosaurs chase each other in this hilarious explanation of the food chain.


The Bedtime Book of Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Life by DK

Get to know more than 100 of the world's favourite dinosaurs with this essential illustrated introduction.






For more dinosaur books see this Pinterest page.

Tuesday, October 31, 2023

1st November Dinovember




Dinovember was started by Susan and Refe Tuma. They started this celebration 'because in the age of iPads and Netflix, we don’t want our kids to lose their sense of wonder and imagination. In a time when the answers to all the world’s questions are a web-search away, we want our kids to experience a little mystery. All it takes is some time and energy, creativity, and a few plastic dinosaurs.' These plastic dinosaurs get up to mischief while their children are asleep. Each day of November they wake to discover what the dinosaurs have done during the night.

This activity is now being celebrated in other people's homes, public libraries, school libraries and classrooms. At this time of year my school is very busy with end of year activities so it is not possible for me to do it full-scale with classes in the library or library lessons, but dinosaurs are super popular with my young audience, so we have decided to promote a dinosaur book every day during November. It would be good to have the picture books that these parents have subsequently produced to start it off, but unfortunately we do not have them.



As well each week we might produce anew dinosaur havoc such as this one.


We have decided on a twist to this idea. On a table we will have the plastic dinosaurs out to play with and they will be 'fighting' over a book. The students will be able to 'rescue' the book if they want to borrow it. The library is only open Monday to Thursday so we will only need eighteen books.

Today preschool classes come to the library and as Penny Dale's dinosaur books are very popular with them they will be on display for them to borrow. Each day after that we will change the book on display. If that author has more dinosaur books and the original is borrowed, it will be good because there will be replacements.

Day 1 Penny Dale



























Day 10 Linda Bailey and Colin Jack























Day 14 Lily Murray and Richard Merritt








Day 15 Zoe Ingram
































































Day 22 Chris Gall


























Of course there are more dinosaur books than this, but all of these are currently available. And of course you could use nonfiction dinosaur books. Some titles that are out of print but are always popular are:























Wednesday, December 5, 2012

4th December Chris Gall


I was going to write about how successful our Picture Book Month was in the library at the end of November, but time keeps getting away at this time of the year. I had my last day for the year with children today. During November we kept to the calendar and had a mini display each day of picture books on the designated topic. I was happy to see books such as the alphabet ones were borrowed even though no child would ever go to a shelf to borrow one. Cats were popular too. But, two books that  every boy has wanted lately are Dinotrux  and Revenge of the Dinotrux. They are certainly 'the flavour of the month' and I have just learned that Chris Gall their author/illustrator had his birthday on 28th November and I have not included him in the blog before. You can see from the covers why these books are so popular with under 8 year old boys! Yes they are a very creative spin on two of children's favourite topics, trucks and dinosaurs, but they are much more and I found I even liked the premise and the way it is executed. See this clever review if you want another opinion.