Build Your Own Dinosaur Sculpture
| mini art lesson
Ages 8+ | This is a free lesson created and supported by Art in Action, a nonprofit empowering students through arts education.
This lesson is intended for parents and their children to explore art as a powerful form of learning and play
About the Lesson
Lesson Overview: 30 min - 45 min This lesson transforms everyday recyclable items into a prehistoric stegosaurus with egg carton back panels and paper roll legs, make history come alive with art in this free lesson.
Included in this Lesson: Discussion: Dinosaurs, the Mesozoic Era, and how we know what we know about these prehistoric creatures Activity: Sculpture from recycled materials
3295 Bohannon Drive, Suite 300 Menlo Park, CA 94025-1055 www.artinaction.org 1 Discussion: Build Your Own Dinosaur Sculpture
About Dinosaurs Dinosaurs lived millions of years ago, long before there were any people. Dinosaurs were a kind of prehistoric reptile that dominated the earth about 150 million years ago during the Mesozoic Era, the “Age of Reptiles.” Paleontologists study their fossil remains to learn more about the prehistoric world of dinosaurs.
pre·his·tor·ic Adjective relating to or denoting the period before written records.
The Mesozoic Era This period is also known as the 'age of reptiles' and spans from 252 to 66 MILLION years ago. It includes the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous Periods. It's name means 'middle life' because it occurred between the Paleozoic ("ancient life") and the Cenozoic ("new life") eras. The Mesozoic Era was a time when dinosaurs ruled this world.
Check out some of the dinosaurs that used to roam this earth:
Tyrannosaurus Apatosaurus Triceratops Stegosaurus has long, sharp teeth is also known as has three horns, one has bony plates on its is as tall as a tree brontosaurus over each eye and one back, triangular in uses its long tail for has a long neck and on its nose shape balance can eat tall trees uses horns for defense has spikes on its tail is a fierce dinosaur is a big dinosaur with walks on four legs eats plants eats the ankylosaurus a tiny brain eats small trees, is much bigger than makes a roaring sound uses its long tail to hit saplings, and bushes any human other dinosaurs
3295 Bohannon Drive, Suite 300 Menlo Park, CA 94025-1055 www.artinaction.org 2 Discussion: Build Your Own Dinosaur Sculpture
How do we know about dinosaurs if there are no more living today? Paleontologists study fossil remains to learn more about the prehistoric world of dinosaurs. They search for dinosaur skeletons underground, and reassemble them to study their size and how they moved. They study fossilized plants that are found near the dinosaur bones, and try to imagine what the environment was like long ago.
What happened to dinosaurs and why? The dinosaurs went extinct about 65 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous period, when there were many volcanos and earthquakes. There are a lot of theories about why the extinction occurred. Many believe that an asteroid hit the Earth and caused major changes in the weather that the dinosaurs could not adapt to. Why are we studying a poster rather than a painting of dinosaurs? Dinosaurs lived long before there were cameras, artists, or even humans, so no one knows exactly what they looked like or how they behaved. We can get an idea of their size and shape by reconstructing their skeletons, but we don’t know their colors, textures, or features. We make pictures from evidence and imagination. Paleontologists are learning new and exciting things about dinosaurs all the time.
3295 Bohannon Drive, Suite 300 Menlo Park, CA 94025-1055 www.artinaction.org 3 Discussion: Build Your Own Dinosaur Sculpture
How do artists make them look realistic? Using information gathered from fossil evidence, artists start with the size and shape of each animal. They then add sharp horns, scaly skin, and big feet based on fossil footprints and general similarities to animals living today like lizards and other reptiles. They guess at colors and textures that would have fit into the surroundings such as browns for desert animals and greens for animals in forests. What makes these dinosaurs look dangerous? Dinosaurs protected themselves with their big teeth, horns, scaly plates, and big claws. The sharp lines remind us of other sharp things like knives and arrows. Sharp lines and angles give a feeling of danger. Open mouths and outstretched necks make the dinosaurs look like they’re attacking. How are dinosaurs different from each other, and why? Some dinosaurs are much larger than others. Some have extra body parts like wings, horns, or spiky plates. These differences and variations helped each type of dinosaur survive in its environment. How do long necks help them? Why do some have small forearms? Find the dinosaurs that protected themselves with armor. How were dinosaurs similar to animals today? Features like four legs, long tails, sharp claws and scaly skin all remind us of various reptiles, especially lizards and iguanas. In addition, some dinosaurs that walk around on their back legs with their small arms in the air remind us of birds who also walk around on two feet, with their wings tucked away.
3295 Bohannon Drive, Suite 300 Menlo Park, CA 94025-1055 www.artinaction.org 4 Activity: Build Your Own Dinosaur Sculpture
About the Activity Use the recycled items listed below to construct your own dinosaur. We will be focusing on Stegosaurus because we love the bony plates that make the cool looking triangular shapes down her back. If you have another favorite dinosaur, spend a little extra time planning out how you will build it out of recycled products. For this project, we are reusing household materials and turning them into art. Anything can become art!
Preparation + Materials First gather all of the materials you will need: 16 oz. plastic water bottle 2 toilet paper rolls or 1 paper towel roll Egg carton: cut one row of 6 connected cups and one individual cup (see image below) Newspaper Aluminum foil Masking tape Scissors Sharpies/Colored pens (optional) Tempera paint + palette and brushes
3295 Bohannon Drive, Suite 300 Menlo Park, CA 94025-1055 www.artinaction.org 5 Activity: Build Your Own Dinosaur
Step One Wrap and tape a folded section of newspaper around a water bottle to form a dinosaur torso. Next, cut the paper rolls into four 2” lengths and prepare some precut 3" pieces of tape and hang them in an accessible area. Step Two It's time to make the legs from the 2" paper rolls. Tape two legs to each side of the dinosaur's water bottle torso. Use the 3” tape strips inside and outside the paper rolls to attach the legs securely to the body. Once attached, shape your dinosaur's legs as you wish by cutting and/or folding.
3295 Bohannon Drive, Suite 300 Menlo Park, CA 94025-1055 www.artinaction.org 6 Activity: Build Your Own Dinosaur
Step Three To form the head, tape the single egg carton cup over the neck of the bottle for the head. Cover the head and shoulders with aluminum foil and tape it in place. Use enough foil so that you can shape the head's snout and ears as you like. Will your dinosaur have a flat nose or pointy nose? How big or small are its ears? Step Four Now it's time to make the Stegosaurus' spiky spine and tail. Attach the long egg carton strip with six cups to the back of the dinosaur. Start at the neck and position it so that three of the cups are situated on the back and the rest extend out as a tail. Bend the strip between the last cup on the back and first cup on the tail down to make the tail droop. Tape the edges of the spine to secure the strip to the body. Step Five Tape your dinosaur's pieces securely in their place and make sure all dents and edges are covered with tape and either paint or color it with permanent markers. Remember, since no one lived while the dinosaurs were alive, we don’t know what colors they were or if they had stripes, polka dots or fur. Make your dinosaur unique. Add details to show colors, textures and attributes.
Share your portrait on social media and check out other kids' art with the hashtag, #MyArtinAction
3295 Bohannon Drive, Suite 300 Menlo Park, CA 94025-1055 www.artinaction.org 7 Bring Art Into the Lives of Your Students!
Don't let the fun end here! We hoped you enjoyed the lesson! Art in Action empowers students through arts education by providing schools with thoughtful visual arts curriculum, teacher training, and art supplies. We want as many kids to have access to art as possible. To do this, we partner with parents and other volunteer teachers to make art possible. Keep the fun going by joining the Art in Action community!
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3295 Bohannon Drive, Suite 300 Menlo Park, CA 94025-1055 www.artinaction.org