Stan & Jan Berenstain - The Berenstain Bears and the Missing Dinosaur Bone

1. Museums are made up of lots of displays and interesting exhibits to look at. Ask pupils ot pick something from a historical period they have been studying/know about to create a museum exhibit on – this could be done as a poster. Once every has completed them, leave them on tables and let pupils walk around and look at you ‘class museum’. 

2. Excavation activity (pre-planning needed). Set dinosaurs, bones, shells or fossils into trays and pour over a medium of your choice, water, jelly or sand and bury the items. If using water this could be frozen. Using excavation tools (spoons, brushes, plastic spatulas etc.) pupils must uncover the items carefully as if they were archaeologists! What can they discover? Which tools where the best? 

3. Using a dinosaur of their choice, create a research profile with facts about that dinosaur. What does it look like? What does it eat? How big was it? Which dinosaurs could it liev with? What environment did it like to live in?

4. Extra! Extra! Dinosaur bone goes missing from the Museum! Ask pupils to create a news piece on the missing dinosaur bone. This could be an article, ‘missing’ poster, radio news clip, or TV news report. What are the facts? Who are the suspects? What does the bone look like? How can the public help?

5. Detective carousel (Pre-Planning required). Create your own ‘classroom detective’ carousel. Something has gone missing from the class, pupils must complete the activities to figure out who it was! Activities could include: fingerprint sampling/comparisons, shoe print sampling/comparisons, comparing fabrics found at the scene with magnifying glasses, comparison of alibis, interviews of suspects. Once all evidence has been collected, the class can vote and find the offender!