Make a Maiasaura Nest and Eggs
The impressive size of dinosaur eggs comes to life when your child creates and fills a Maiasaura nest.
Before You Play
Explain to your child that different kinds of dinosaurs hatched out of different-sized eggs, much in the way modern birds hatch out of different-sized eggs — some are little and others are quite big. Ask your child to guess what bird has the largest eggs today. The answer is the ostrich, which is about the size of a volleyball. If you happen to have a cantaloupe or volleyball on hand, let your child hold it to get a sense of how big an ostrich egg is.
Tell your child that a dinosaur species known as Maiasaura hatched out of eggs similar in size to ostrich eggs. Show a picture of a full-grown Maiasaura. Ask her if she can think of an animal that is about the same size. Explain that an adult Maiasaura weighed about the sames size of an African elephant. Explain to your child that she is going to create a model of a Maiasaura nest. Show her the picture of a reconstruction of Maiasaura nest.
Materials
Directions
Tell your child that based on fossils, scientists know that Maiasaura laid their eggs in nests they dug in the ground. Have your child paint her rocks. Encourage her to use her imagination to paint her eggs, since scientists don’t know what color Maiasaura eggs were. Let the paint dry.
In a sandbox, or large dirt-covered area, have your child create a Maiasaura nest—a circular area about 5-6 feet across. Your child can build up the edges of the nest, similar to the reconstruction in the photo.
Have your child organize her eggs in the middle of the nest. Next, explain that Maiasaura were too big to sit on their eggs like chickens do. So, they used plants to keep their eggs warm. Have your child put leaves and pine needles, if available, on top of the eggs.
Take a photograph of the nest once it’s completed. Or, ask her to draw or paint a picture of the nest.
Science
Arts