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Tyrannosaurus Drip

tyrannosaurus drip full coverJulia Donaldson, David Roberts (illus)
Macmillan Books   
Age 5-7

This is the story of a duckbilled dinosaur egg that lands in a Tyrannosaurus’ nest. Problems begin when the egg hatches and Drip, a vegetarian dinosaur  finds himself surrounded by a family of fierce carnivores. A story about not fitting in, Julia Donaldson’s use of rhyme and rhythm make it great for reading aloud and joining in.

 

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Share the story

Read aloud
Before beginning the story look at the cover together, opening it out to green dinosaur pairsee the whole dinosaur on the front and back cover. Talk about what might happen in the story.

Join in
As you re read the book encourage children to join in with the refrains such as ‘Up with rivers! Down with water!’ And ‘SPLASH!’

Talk about the story
Which pages did children like best? Choose your favourites and discuss them.

Talk about why Drip didn’t fit in and wanted to run away.

Tell the story
Using the pictures in the book or model dinosaurs children could tell the story in their own words.

Watch a video

Watch Julia Donaldson and her husband Malcolm singing a song about Tyrannosaurus Drip here 

Things to make and do

Play the story
Using green and red plasticine or playdough make some duckbilled and tyrannosaurus dinosaurs.

Place a blue cloth on the floor or a table to represent the river and arrange the model dinosaurs on each side. Children can act out parts of the story.

Make a nest of dinosaur eggs
Make a nest out of materials such as twigs, dried grass or screwed up newspaper.

Finely crack some hard boiled eggs, dip in food colouring and peel after a few hours to make mysteriously patterned eggs to put in your nest. See here for more detail: 

Write a menu for Drip
What kind of food would Drip like? Talk about what Drip wanted to eat in the story and other foods he might like. Children could make a menu especially for him.

Find out more

Read more books by Julia Donaldson, titles include:

* The Gruffalo

A Squash and a Squeeze

* Room on the Broom

* The Snail and the Whale

The Stick Man

* See more lovemybooks ideas

Find out more about dinosaurs here, here and here.

See here for more dinosaur themed activities.