A Dinosaur Themed Party For Your Little Monsters
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It can be difficult for Mums and Dads to keep up with the busy social lives of their young charges once they get to school age. For most there is the almost weekly ordeal of having to take their children to a classmate's birthday party. With class sizes in many cases exceeding 30 pupils, there can be a party to attend every weekend and then of course you are faced with the challenge of reciprocating when it is your child's birthday. However, help is at hand as with the assistance of my colleagues, some of whom actually study fossils of nigersaurus and dig up dinosaurs, we can hopefully, pass on some tips to help ensure a dinosaur themed party is a roaring success. We know how much of a challenge organising a children's party can be. However, we can help when it comes to a dinosaur themed birthday party, hopefully taking out some of the strain and worry.
Dinosaurs and prehistoric animals are universally popular with young children. Indeed, the Order Dinosauria seems to have captured the imagination of the public almost from its inception in the early 1840's by the anatomist Sir Richard Owen. As a teacher, I have been able to blend in dinosaurs into all sorts of teaching activities and with a little imagination the sorts of exercises carried out in the classroom can be adapted to help spark young children's imaginations at a dinosaur themed birthday party.
Choosing inexpensive Dinosaur Models as Party Gifts
An inexpensive assortment of plastic dinosaur models can be used to fill out the party gift bag, but why not take a little time to consider the model selection and then involve the young party goers in a fun to play party game to help them "earn" the right to take a plastic dinosaur home. There are so many different model series to select from these days, most stores have packs of reasonably priced models in varying shades and colours. However, rather than purchase a pack, try to see if you can find any presented in a box, so that you can handle them. This gives you the opportunity to test them out, to see if they actually stand up. Beware the bipedal (two-footed) dinosaur models, many of the cheaper sets have bipedal dinosaur models that don't actually stand up on their own two feet (as it were). Bipedal dinosaurs include popular prehistoric animals such a Tyrannosaurus rex and Velociraptor and it would be a shame to have to give a party goer a dinosaur model that actually doesn't stand up. We refer to these as tipsy dinosaurs, but if unsure as to what would work best for your young charges, select four-footed animals (quadrupeds), these tend to be much more stable and are very unlikely to fall over.
In reality, palaeontologists still marvel at how large Theropods (bipedal, meat-eaters such as Tyrannosaurus rex), were able to run around and generally support their great bulk whilst walking on their toes (digitigrade stance), this is one of the mysteries of the Order Dinosauria. The structure of the ankle bones in a dinosaur is one of the main distinguishing characteristics, between dinosaurs and other ancient reptiles. A strong joint between the foot bones and the bones of the hind leg is a key feature of dinosaurs and this foot/limb configuration gave these creatures a distinct advantage when compared to the locomotive abilities of other primeval reptile groups.
No matter what your reason for selecting a particular range of prehistoric animal models, these inexpensive items can be used as the basis for a simple to organise and fun to create dinosaur game. Why not send your young party goers on their very own dinosaur hunt?
Organising a Dinosaur Party Game - A Dinosaur Hunt
Rather than simply giving a little prehistoric animal away in your party goody bag, why not help the young palaeontologists to burn up some energy and have the fun of finding their own dinosaur model to take home? Hide the models so that every child at the party can have a go at hunting their own dinosaur.
This game can be adapted to be played either outdoors in indoors; we do appreciate that sometimes the weather can dash the best-laid plans of the home party planner.
When we play this game, we make a note of where we have hidden the particular model and then write the name of the prehistoric animal on a piece of paper with a clue as to where the dinosaur might be lurking. All the papers are folded up and put into a box, a hat or some other handy container. Often the dinosaur party host is a very willing helper, assisting with the writing out of the names, identifying the animals using one of the many ubiquitous dinosaur books in most young people's collections and even helping to theme up the box using stickers and dinosaur drawings. The young dinosaur fan will no doubt provide a lot of expert opinion on dinosaur "dos and don'ts". It is amazing how much knowledge children can absorb, especially if they like the subject matter.
Each child then takes it in turn to pick a piece of paper out of the hat, they study the name of the dinosaur and the clue and off they go to try and find their prehistoric animal. The adult supervising the activity can provide some assistance and advice but this activity is great to help the young dinosaur fans burn up some energy as they run around trying to be the first to round up their dinosaur. Once they have retrieved their model, they return to the adult with the box or hat that had been filled with the names and try to pronounce the name of the prehistoric animal in question. Pronunciation guides can be found in the glossary section of most children's dinosaur books and the pictures provided can help you to identify the prehistoric animals represented by the models.
Once the young budding palaeontologist has located their prehistoric animal they can have a go at pronouncing the name. Then it is simply a case of putting the prehistoric model into the party gift bag or gift box so that once the party is over they can take it home. Be sure to check that each child has a labelled goody bag, it wouldn't do to mix up the dinosaur models at this stage. Most quality gift bags have a name tag section, where each recipients name can be written clearly. You can always print off some dinosaur pictures form the numerous web site resources and use these as innovative name tags for your party goody bags.
The game is easy to set up, works really well if you can go outside into the yard or garden and helps children use up some of their energy before tucking into the birthday tea. It fits into the dinosaur theme and is a lot of fun to play. We especially like the idea of being able to mix in a little bit of learning regarding dinosaur models the child has "discovered" - slipping in a little bit of science and educational material without the children realising it. If young children can have fun with science as they play then this has got to be a good idea.
Best of all, in the competitive world of birthday parties for classmates, Mums and Dads can score one or two brownie points amongst their peers by providing an innovative and fun educational exercise for their young party guests.
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LMU basketball team to start giant inflatable Iggy, the Lion was capable of playing basketball and bounce houses that is perfect for gifts and holidays. A great gift for your children any time of the year wherever indoor or outdoor.