Dinosaurs

Getting him out of the volcano

An adult had set a volcano going, and red foam came up out of it.

“It's like a real volcano!”

Then one child noticed the dinosaur standing in the tub beside it.

“He must be so hot. Poor thing.”

“Shall we get him out?”

A nod, and the two of them went over to it together.

“Careful! He's too hot!”

“Quick, cool him down!”

They lifted him out and carried him to a tub of water, and washed him off in it.

“He'll be alright now.”

“Phew. He made it.”

Others came over, and it turned into a rescue.

“We're the dinosaur rescue!”

“You have to put water on the fire!”

He ate the toys and got a bad tummy

The dinosaur had eaten the toys in the room and his tummy hurt. That was the story, carried over from the day before.

So they sorted out who was doing what, and got the stethoscope and the medicine and the plasters.

“Does it hurt?”

“I'll have a look at you.”

They pressed on his tummy. They put medicine on him.

An adult had left the bed and the blanket and the castle from the day before where they were, so he had somewhere to lie down.

You're tearing my egg

A child had said the day before that they wanted to make a red dinosaur egg, so an adult put egg outlines out to colour in.

One went at theirs with a red pencil. “Red.”

“You said yesterday you wanted to colour a red one, didn't you?”

“I did.” And a laugh.

Another stuck their finished egg up on the wall. The first one watched that.

“I want to play with mine.”

“Go on then.”

“I want to play with mine too.”

“Go on.”

So that child took their egg back down off the wall.

“Come and play with me!”

“Alright.”

Blocks went up, high. “Let's build a house.” The two of them stacked them and put the eggs on top.

Then a block went down on top of an egg.

“My egg! No, don't.”

“You're tearing my egg.”

And a lip came out.

Mine fought all the others and became the king

An adult put the dinosaur figures out. Blocks came over and a house went up round them, and they did the noises themselves.

Then they started looking at what their own one had.

“Mine's got loads of horns, so he can chase the other ones off.”

“Mine's got wings, so he likes flying.”

An adult asked them to say its name and then make up a story with that dinosaur in it.

“Mine went over a really big mountain and got to the sea.”

“Mine fought all the other ones and became the king!”

There's no dinosaur that eats both

The dinosaurs were hungry, so a meal went out on the table — meat on one side, vegetables on the other.

An adult asked why the meat was over on that side.

“That's the meat-eater's dinner.”

They kept the two dinners apart after that.

Then one child, who was being a pteranodon: “Mine eats both.”

“There's no dinosaur that eats both.”

The dinosaur's doing a poo

An adult had made the poo pictures smaller this time, and put them out.

One child started laying them on top of a box. Another came over holding a dinosaur.

“The dinosaur's doing a poo.”

After that the first one followed the dinosaur about the room, putting a poo down wherever it went.

“Here's a poo! A poo!”

Why is he only bones?

An adult had put footprints down on the floor and cleared the space around them. They followed them across the room — one foot at a time, or walking like a dinosaur.

Then one child came along the trail holding a magnifying glass.

“There's a dinosaur fossil here.”

After that they were all looking for fossils. Later, with the glass held over a picture of one:

“Why is the dinosaur only bones?”

It went down the back of the shelves

A dinosaur in each hand, then up from the table and over to the shelves — the ones that go up like steps.

They jumped the dinosaurs from one shelf to the next, all the way to the top. Then one went down the back, and they called out.

“It's gone. It's not there.”

“Has the dinosaur gone?”

“Yes. Gone... it fell down.”

An adult looked behind the shelves. “It's gone down here, hasn't it.” And pushed them out to get it.

“Where do we play with the dinosaurs? On the floor, isn't it. If you play on the shelves they go down the back like this.”

“You can't.”

Then, back at the table with one in each hand: “Mummy — ah! No... monster... aaah!”

Then he's a Pukyongosaurus now

A child got the paper cups out. “I'm going to make a zoo.”

The cups went round in a ring, one layer high, and a dinosaur went inside.

“He's too big. The zoo has to be taller.”

So more cups went on top, and more dinosaurs went in. Then:

“Are there dinosaurs in our country too?”

“There were, apparently.”

“T. rex?”

“I don't know the name, actually.”

“We've got the dinosaur book!”

And went and fetched it. They went through it together.

“There — Pukyongosaurus.”

“Oh! It's a brachiosaurus.”

An adult read it out: a plant-eater, like a brachiosaurus, named that because a professor at Pukyong University found it.

That child picked up the brachiosaurus. “Then he's a Pukyongosaurus now.”

Laid on its side, it made a fossil

Cardboard bricks went up high, with a tunnel through, and the dinosaurs moved in.

“It's my house!”

“The baby dinosaur lives here too.”

Then an adult brought clay over. They pressed the dinosaurs' feet into it and the prints came out sharp.

“He's walking about!”

“I'm the T. rex foot.”

“I'm giving my dinosaur a bath.”

An adult laid one on its side and pressed the whole thing in — that one made a fossil. After that they were pushing the dinosaurs into the clay with their hands and feeling it.

Can I have this one, please

A tower of blocks, with an adult holding the bottom of it steady. When it was done, a dinosaur went up on top.

“This is the dinosaur shop.”

Another child came over and reached for one.

“Don't take it!”

“It's a dinosaur shop at the moment. If you want one, try saying: can I have this one, please.”

A nod. “Can I have this one, please.”

“Yes, here you are.”

After that the others came to the shop for them instead of taking them.

Eat it all up

An adult had left leaves out in the room, and one child filled a basket with them. They felt them, tore them, held one up to their nose.

“Smells like leaves.”

Then they fetched a dinosaur and started posting the torn leaves into its mouth.

“Eat it all up.”

A leg came off. They looked at it for a moment, then carried it over to an adult.

“His leg's come off, hasn't it. Shall we put it back on?”

They did it together, and then the feeding carried on.