Talk About It: How Big Were Dinosaurs?

The big idea: Some dinosaurs were huge, and some were small.

When kids think of dinosaurs, they think BIG. And some were! The biggest ones, called titanosaurs, were longer than three school buses and heavier than ten elephants. But not every dinosaur was a giant. Some were only about the size of a chicken. Tyrannosaurus rex was somewhere in between: about as long as a school bus.

Questions to ask

• "Do you think all dinosaurs were big?"

• "What's the biggest animal you've ever seen? Was it bigger than a dinosaur?"

• "Which is bigger, you or a chicken? You or a school bus?"

• "If a dinosaur was as big as our house, where would it sleep?"

Show it in one minute

Lie down on the floor and put a toy at your child's head and feet: "This is how long YOU are." Then take big steps across the room together: "A T. rex was about as long as seven grown-ups lying head to toe!"

Keep it going

Sort your toy dinosaurs from smallest to biggest. Then go outside and pace out a school bus: about 40 grown-up feet long.

Want to learn more?

• Why Were Dinosaurs So Big?, from the Natural History Museum, London

• The Dino Directory, from the Natural History Museum, London

• Dig Into Dinosaurs!, from PBS KIDS for Parents

Shop these items

Everything mentioned in this post, in one place. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

• Jumbo toy dinosaurs

• Today's book: Dinosaur Bones by Bob Barner

• Shop everything for Week 5: Dinosaurs

• Starter supplies: the basics we use most weeks

• See every week in our Amazon storefront

More for this week: see all our Dinosaur activities, Letter E activities and Number 5 activities.