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Free dinosaur resources for teachers

Free English and Chinese dinosaur worksheets, timeline and size chart, with learning goals, teacher answers and a suggested 45–60 minute lesson for ages 10–14.

Suggested ages
10–14
Suggested time
45–60 minutes
Resource languages
English / 中文
Access
Free · No registration

Ages and times are planning suggestions for teachers to adapt; no classroom-trial results or curriculum certification are claimed. Core PDF activities work offline; the extension needs online sources or teacher-prepared extracts. Interactive tools need a browser and internet access.

Everything for an evidence lesson

Start with the six-page activity pack, then add the timeline and size chart. Bring paper, pencils, a ruler and basic percentage skills; a projector or calculator is optional.

Download the English teaching bundle (ZIP) ↓View the institutional resource guide ↗
PDF · 6 PAGES · 45–60 MIN (SUGGESTED)

Reading Dinosaur Evidence

Student worksheets, evidence cards and teacher answers. The optional species-record extension adds 20–30 minutes.

Learning goal: Build a claim from an observation, cite its source and identify a limitation.

English PDF ↓中文 PDF ↓
PDF · 1 PAGE · 10–15 MIN (SUGGESTED)

Dinosaur timeline

An A4 landscape reference for the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous, with dated boundaries and sources.

Learning goal: Order geological periods and calculate their approximate durations.

English PDF ↓中文 PDF ↓
PDF · 1 PAGE · 10–15 MIN (SUGGESTED)

Dinosaur size and uncertainty

An A4 landscape chart for reading a common length scale and discussing rounded estimates.

Learning goal: Calculate a difference or ratio and explain why length is not mass.

English PDF ↓中文 PDF ↓

SUGGESTED LESSON

From time and scale to an evidence-based claim

A supplementary activity for science, natural history and source literacy. Split it across two sessions or choose one worksheet.

  1. 5 minutes · Ask

    What can a dinosaur reconstruction actually demonstrate? Separate fossil observations, scientific inference and illustration.

  2. 12 minutes · Time

    Use worksheet page 2 and the timeline to order the three periods and calculate durations.

  3. 15 minutes · Scale

    Use page 3 and the size chart to calculate differences and percentages, then rewrite a falsely precise claim.

  4. 13 minutes · Evidence

    Use the evidence cards on page 4 to write a claim, evidence and limitation, then discuss why a reconstruction is not fossil evidence.

  5. 5 minutes · Review

    Use the teacher guide on page 6 to check source attribution, observation versus interpretation and appropriate uncertainty.

Optional extension: allow another 20–30 minutes for the species-record task on page 5, using online sources or teacher-prepared extracts. Mark missing fields as unknown. Core activities on pages 2–4 can be completed offline.

Interactive teaching laboratory ↗

Teach ratios with a size comparison, explore geological time at different scales, or turn a hallway into a deep-time walkway. English and Chinese tools include classroom tasks, teacher answers, sources and shareable settings.

USE & ATTRIBUTION

Use, citation and sources

The English and Chinese PDFs of these three resources may be printed, projected and used for non-commercial teaching with source and version footers retained. Course pages, library guides and directories can link here; contact us about rehosting, adaptations or other uses. This is not a site-wide Creative Commons licence.

The materials use AI-assisted production and editorial compilation, with clickable sources. They are not independently expert-reviewed unless a named reviewer is listed. Generative reconstructions on the website are not fossil photographs or scientific evidence.

Extinct Atlas. “Reading Dinosaur Evidence.” OliverHart, managing editor. 2026-09-04. https://extinctatlas.com/educators#classroom-pack

ICS chart ↗NHM Dino Directory ↗Editorial policycontact@extinctatlas.com