Optional Activities
Activities for Younger Learners
- Bird = Dinosaur Evidence Hunt: Look up 5 modern bird features and their dinosaur counterparts: hollow bones (theropod dinosaurs), wishbone/furcula (Velociraptor), nesting behavior (Maiasaura), feathers (Anchiornis, Yi qi), and warm-bloodedness (evidence in bone growth rings). For each, find one image of the dinosaur equivalent. Build a visual evidence board.
- Crocodilian Sit-and-Wait Demo: Research the ambush hunting strategy of modern crocodilians. They can remain motionless at the water’s edge for hours. Play a stillness game: set a timer and see who can stay completely still the longest. Discuss why this strategy is so successful for an animal with a slow metabolism.
- Chicken Wing Dissection: Really dive into the anatomy of birds by dissecting a chicken wing. A video guide is available here. To explore more chicken anatomy you can also look at these videos.
- Feathered Dinosaur Research: The discovery of feathered dinosaurs in China’s Yixian Formation in the 1990s transformed paleontology. Research Sinosauropteryx (first confirmed feathered non-bird dinosaur, 1996), Microraptor (four-winged glider), and Yi qi (bat-winged dinosaur). How did these discoveries change our understanding of the bird-dinosaur connection?
- Crocodile Heart Deep Dive: Crocodilians have a four-chambered heart like birds and mammals, but they can reroute blood flow in ways no other living animal can, essentially shutting off blood to the lungs during dives. Research this remarkable adaptation and its evolutionary history. What does sharing a four-chambered heart with birds tell us about their common archosaur ancestor?