From Egg to Earth-Shaking Dinosaur

Children hatch from eggs as clumsy baby dinosaurs, grow into giants that make the ground shake, and finally choose to be a long-necked or a flying dinosaur. It works on going from small to big movements and from soft to strong.

How to play

1. We're eggs curled into balls; the sun warms them and the shells crack: we peck with our nose, elbows and feet until we're out (2 min).
2. Baby dinosaurs: we crawl, try to stand, wobble and take clumsy little steps (2 min).
3. We grow: giant stomping steps to make the ground shake, a long tail behind us and a big roar (3 min).
4. Everyone chooses: long neck (on tiptoe, neck stretched, eating leaves from tall trees) or flyer (wing arms, gliding across the playground); on a clap, we switch (3 min).
5. Tired dinosaurs crouch to drink from the lake and lie down to sleep next to their eggs (2 min).

Rules

• The baby is small and wobbly; the big one stomps.
• Stomping is with my feet, never on another dinosaur.
• The roar is big, but not in anyone's ear.
• On the clap, I change dinosaurs.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: shows the strong steps by patting legs or the wheelchair, and flies with the arms.
• Hearing loss: the switch clap comes with a visual cue, raising arms like wings or stretching the neck.
• Autism: give a heads-up before roaring and allow quiet roars or covering ears.

Learning goals

• Go from small, wobbly movements to big, steady ones.
• Change the force of each step while moving.
• Act out a transformation with the body.

Teacher tip

Model the big dinosaur steps very slow and very heavy; if they speed up, it just turns into running. For the long neck, point to something actually high (a branch, the basketball hoop) so they have somewhere to “eat.”

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