ClassX Video Lessons Youtube Channel Vooks Storybooks Animated Read Aloud Kids Book: Fossil by Fossil
Have you ever wondered what you would look like if you were a dinosaur? Dinosaurs might seem very different from us on the outside, but inside, our bones are quite similar! Even though dinosaurs are extinct, we can learn about them through fossils. Fossils are dinosaur bones that have turned into stone over a long time.
Both dinosaurs and people have skulls, vertebrae, and ribs. We also share shoulder bones, arm bones, and finger bones. These bones have special names like scapula, humerus, ulna, radius, metacarpals, and phalanges. We have hip bones, leg bones, and toe bones too, with names like ilium, pubis, ischium, femur, tibia, fibula, tarsals, metatarsals, and phalanges.
Some dinosaurs had extra bones that made them unique. Imagine having a bony ridge on your skull and three horns on your face. You would look like a triceratops! Triceratops used its horns for fighting, and the bony ridge, called a frill, protected its neck and shoulders.
What if you had chunky, triangle-shaped bones along your back and a heavy ball of bone at the end of your tail? You’d be an ankylosaurus! This dinosaur’s tail was like a club, used to scare off predators. Ankylosaurus also had bony plates in its skin for protection, similar to an armadillo.
If you had flat, diamond-shaped bones along your back, you’d be a stegosaurus! Scientists think these plates might have helped stegosaurus stay warm or look impressive to other dinosaurs. The sharp spikes on its tail were likely used for defense.
Imagine having a super long neck and tail. You’d be a diplodocus! This dinosaur was as long as three school buses. Other long-necked dinosaurs, called sauropods, include brachiosaurus, argentinosaurus, and apatosaurus.
If your arms were tiny compared to your legs and you had sharp teeth, you’d be a tyrannosaurus rex! T. rex walked on two legs and might have used its small arms to help it stand up. Its sharp teeth were perfect for eating meat.
Dinosaurs weren’t the only cool reptiles from the past. Some swam in the oceans, like ichthyosaurs, which looked like dolphins. They had paddle-shaped limbs for swimming and were warm-blooded.
Others flew in the sky, like pterosaurs. These reptiles had long pinky bones with skin stretched between them, allowing them to fly. They were the first animals with bones that could fly!
Did you know that some dinosaurs are still around today? Birds are considered living dinosaurs! Like pterosaurs, birds use their finger bones to fly, but they use their first three fingers instead of their pinky bones.
So next time you see a bird, remember you’re looking at a dinosaur! If you want to learn more about these amazing creatures, ask a grown-up to help you find books or explore fun stories online. Happy exploring!
Bone Matching Game: Create a simple matching game using pictures of human bones and dinosaur bones. Print out images of bones like the skull, vertebrae, and ribs for both humans and dinosaurs. Mix them up and ask the children to match the human bones with their dinosaur counterparts. Discuss how these bones are similar and what functions they serve in both humans and dinosaurs.
Design Your Own Dinosaur: Provide children with paper and coloring supplies to draw their own dinosaur. Encourage them to think about what unique features their dinosaur might have, like a long neck, sharp teeth, or special plates on its back. Ask them to label the bones they include, using some of the bone names from the article, such as femur or scapula. Share and discuss the different designs and what each feature might be used for.
Bird Watching Adventure: Take the children on a short walk outside to observe birds. Encourage them to notice how birds use their wings and how their bones might help them fly. Ask questions like, “How do you think the bird’s bones help it move?” and “What do you think is similar between a bird and a dinosaur?” After the walk, discuss how birds are considered living dinosaurs and what features they share with their prehistoric relatives.
Here’s a sanitized version of the provided YouTube transcript:
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[Applause] [Music] Fossil by fossil, comparing dinosaur bones. Can you imagine what you’d look like if you were a dinosaur? [Music] You might be pretty funny looking or even quite scary. On the outside, people and dinosaurs look very different, but on the inside, we’re actually very similar. In fact, the bones that make up our skeletons are mostly the same. How can we know this? Dinosaurs are all extinct, right? [Music]
Lucky for us, some of their bones have lasted as fossils—bones that have turned to stone over time. [Music] Dinosaurs and people all have skulls, vertebrae, and ribs. [Music] We all have shoulder bones, arm bones, and finger bones: scapula, humerus, ulna, radius, metacarpals, phalanges. [Music]
We also have hip bones, leg bones, and toe bones: ilium, pubis, ischium, femur, tibia, fibula, tarsals, metatarsals, phalanges. [Music] But some dinosaurs had extra bones in their bodies that made them different from us. Can you imagine what you might look like if we added some bones to your body? [Music]
What if you had a bony ridge that rose up from the back of your skull and three horns poking up from the front? What kind of dinosaur would you look like then? A triceratops! [Music] Scientists think this dinosaur used its horns for fighting. The bony ridge in the back is called a frill. [Music] It probably helped protect a triceratops’s neck and shoulders.
What kind of dinosaur would you be if you had rows of chunky, triangle-shaped bones along your back and an enormous ball of bone stuck onto the end of your vertebrae? An ankylosaurus! [Music] The bones on the end of this dinosaur’s tail weighed more than 60 pounds (27 kilograms). That’s about as heavy as the average seven-year-old kid. Scientists think this dinosaur used its club tail as a weapon. [Music]
They believe it could swing and hit hard enough to scare off predators as big as a tyrannosaurus rex. Ankylosaurus also had plates of bone set into its skin for protection, just like an armadillo does. [Music]
What kind of dinosaur would you be if you had flat, diamond-shaped bones above your vertebrae, starting at your neck and continuing all the way down your spine? A stegosaurus! [Music] Why did this dinosaur have these plates of bone? Scientists have argued about this for a long time. Some think the plates helped stegosaurus soak up the sun and stay warm. [Music] Others think they might have just been there to impress other dinosaurs, kind of like a fancy outfit. [Music]
What scientists do agree on is that the sharp, spiky bones at the end of stegosaurus’s tail were probably used for defense. [Music]
What if we added lots and lots of extra vertebrae in your neck? And what if your vertebrae didn’t stop at your rear end but kept going and going? What kind of dinosaur would you be then? A diplodocus! [Music] Other sauropods, including brachiosaurus, argentinosaurus, and apatosaurus, are also correct answers. [Music]
The platykus was one of the long-necked dinosaurs or sauropods. This dinosaur had 15 vertebrae in its neck and 80 vertebrae in its tail. From head to tail, it was about 88 feet (27 meters) long—that’s about as long as three school buses parked bumper to bumper. [Music]
What kind of dinosaur would you be if your arm bones were really small compared to your leg bones and you had only two sets of finger bones on each hand instead of five? Here’s a big hint: you also had dagger-like teeth lining your jaw. A tyrannosaurus rex! [Music]
This dinosaur walked upright on its two back legs like a person or a bird. Scientists think it might have used its small front legs to help it get up after lying down for a rest. The teeth—well, you know what the teeth were for, right? [Music]
Dinosaurs were prehistoric reptiles that lived on land, but they weren’t the only interesting reptiles alive at that time. Others swam in the oceans or flew in the sky. Imagine that your skull ended in a very long, pointy snout, and your nostrils were high up on your head. Not only that, your arm bones and leg bones were so short they looked like paddles. What kind of prehistoric reptile would you be? An ichthyosaur! [Music]
Ichthyosaurs were similar to dolphins. Not only did their bones look alike, but they were also warm-blooded, ate fish, and had babies that came out tail first, just like dolphins. [Music] They used their paddle-shaped limbs for swimming.
How about if your pinky bones grew really long and a membrane of skin was attached to these bones? What kind of prehistoric reptile would you be if this happened? A pterosaur! [Music] Pterosaurs were the first animals with bones that could fly. Sadly, we will never meet any of these animals in person because they are extinct. [Music]
But there is one type of dinosaur that has actually survived. You may have even seen one already today. [Music] What kind of animal would you be if you were a dinosaur living on Earth right now? A bird! [Music] Scientists now consider birds to be dinosaurs. Like the pterosaur, birds also use their finger bones for flying, but instead of flying with their pinky bones, birds use their first three fingers. [Music]
So if you want to find a dinosaur, go outside and look around. You’re very likely to see one. [Music] [Applause] [Music]
If you don’t have books, what are you waiting for? It’s a kid-safe, ad-free library full of so many storybooks that are brought to life. Ask your grown-up and start exploring more fun stories like these. You have to go and ask for books. Enjoy the specialties of this app right here. Go on, come on, go off. Thanks for watching! For more stories, try the Vox app for free today.
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This version removes any unnecessary or inappropriate content while keeping the educational essence intact.
