Home Educators Day – Dinosaurs and More!

Discover dinosaurs and more with this specially themed day for home educated children and their families. Led by our expert Learning Team and the Human Biology Team from the University of Warwick, you are set to experience unique learning filled with fossils and fun!

Throughout the day, you can select workshops to attend, drop-in play-based activities and take time to explore the museum.

Choose from the following workshops and activities to attend, giving you a range of experience for mixed ages appealing to varied learning abilities and interests:

Activity | Delivery Team | Age

Sensory Stories and Rhymes | Herbert Learning Team | 0-4s

Fascinating Fossils workshop | Herbert Learning Team | 6-11

Jurassic Sensory Play Days | Self-led play experience | 0-4s

Dippy VR experience | Herbert Digital Media Team | 6-11

Skeletons, Skulls and human biology | University of Warwick, Human Biology Department | 6-11

Junior Paleontologists | University of Warwick, Human Biology Department | 3-11

Clay Dinos | Herbert Learning Team | 3-11

Sensory Stories and Rhymes:

Explore our collections through songs, stories, movement and sensory play. These sessions provide an opportunity for our youngest visitors to engage with our collections in a way that is meaningful to them.

The hands-on nature of these sessions appeal to their imaginations and above all else is fun. Each child will receive a sensory play bag, containing freshly cleaned sensory resources, which helps to keep them engaged for the duration of the session; adds context by using a physical object to give words meaning; extends learning through play and increases their opportunities to develop good listening and language skills.

Sensory Play Days:

Let imaginations soar as your child learns to play creatively in this interactive space. Explore and grow using inspiring sensory materials, where the possibilities are endless!

Through the use of open-ended items, babies and young children are free to use their imaginations and take their play experience in the direction that they wish to.

This session is hands-on, suitable for even the youngest of children, and designed to support with the development of motor skills, hand-eye coordination, problem-solving and social interaction. Above all else it is fun and offers you a wonderful opportunity to play with your child in a relaxed and engaging environment.

Dipp-E VR Experience:

Immerse yourself in the 175-million-year journey of the Herbert’s ichthyosaur skull and experience the power of interactive storytelling with Dipp-E VR! Trace its route to Coventry, from initially being discovered in a quarry, all the way back to this giant marine reptile swimming around Warwickshire’s Jurassic seas!

Fascinating Fossils:

In this cross-curricular workshop, children will have a unique experience of seeing Dippy, currently on loan from the Natural History Museum, uncovering key facts about the nation’s favourite dinosaur with the Herbert’s Learning Team. Children will handle real fossils from the Herbert’s collection, exploring how fossils are formed and why they are so important. Children will then produce their own fossil inspired print, helping them to uncover details of our natural history collection in a creative way.

Clay Dinos:

Approached with a more informal atmosphere, one of our learning spaces will be open throughout the day for children to enter and craft their own clay dinosaur. Facilitated by our Learning Team, this activity will offer children a chance to get hands on with a tactile art form and use their imaginations to bring dinos to life through three-dimensional modelling.

Skeletons. Skulls and Human Biology:

Join scientists from the University of Warwick to learn about what makes skulls special, and how we can learn so much about how Dippy lived just by studying his skull.

Junior Paleontologists:

Learn how archaeologists uncover fossils. Test your skills, and help with our excavation!

Full timings of the day to follow. Following on from your booking, our team will contact you in the lead up to the event to confirm which bookable workshops you would like to attend on the day to help us manage numbers, avoiding overcrowding and to create a positive learning environment for your children,

Please note, bookable workshops will be repeated to allow for maximum participation.

For further information, please contact Lisa Ford, Learning and Engagement Manager: ctm.info@cvlife.co.uk