Celebrate Spring with Dino EggStravaganza!

Dino EggStravaganza Coloring and Activity Pack

In celebration of spring with our Dino Eggstravaganza Event at Museum of the Earth, here are some egg-cellent egg education and activities:

• Make your own dinosaur egg!

• Learn about amniotes and their eggs

• Dissolve a chicken egg to study the interior parts

• Make some homemade amphibian egg pudding

• Study live avian dinosaur behavior!

• Relax with nest-sitting meditation

The age range for the following pages is broad and range from simple coloring pages to adult supervision activities. Depending on your age, or the age of your family member, this book can be completed alone, with help, or all together.

Make Your Own Dinosaur Egg!

Even the biggest dinosaurs laid eggs only a little smaller than a basketball. Using just a few common items, you can make your own model sauropod egg! (Inspired by First Palette.)

1. Blow up a balloon and tie it off. Any color works: you’ll be popping it later anyway! [You can push in a small toy before blowing it up so the toy will be inside the egg when it is dry.]

2. Rip up some newspaper into pieces. The smaller the pieces, the easier they’ll fit over the balloon

3. Mix 2 parts white glue to 1 part water

4. Dip your newspaper into the glue-water mixture *WARNING* This can get messy!

5. It might help to have an extra hand-someone to hold the end of the balloon over news paper to reduce drip mess.

6. Place the damp paper on the balloon. Rub down the edges so they lay flat

7. Keep adding layers: you’ll want two or three so your egg won’t deflate!

8. Let it dry: hang your balloon or place it on top of a bowl

9. Wait! It will take about 2-3 days to dry completely

10. Carefully pop the balloon: let the air out slowly so it doesn’t collapse all at once

11. Get creative! Paint your dinosaur egg any color you want

Amniote or Amni-not

Many familiar animals—including us!—are amniotes. An amniote is an animal whose egg evolved an amniotic layer and several other layers around the embryo (developing baby), which helps protect the growing baby inside. 

This protected early development allowed animals to live totally on land or terrestrial.

Fish, most invertebrates, and amphibians are not amniotes: they lay very soft, jelly-like eggs that need water in order to survive. There are aquatic amniotes, but they give birth to live babies instead of laying eggs.

The cladogram below shows some of the amniotes and how they are related to one another. Animals at the top of the page are still living today while the others are extinct.

Chicken Egg Shell Breakdown!

Now we know how eggs are different on the outside, but what about the inside? 

Beyond an amniote egg’s hard outershell, there’s a soft membrane called the chorion. A membrane is a very thin, silky piece of “skin” that helps hold everything together within the egg.

You can find this membrane when you crack open an egg, but why make a mess when you can see (and touch!) the membrane with a little bit of vinegar? An eggshell is made up of calcium carbonate, and that calcium carbonate will break down when it comes in contact with an acid like vinegar.

You’ll need:

• A fresh chicken egg (an old or spoiled egg will float, and so you may not be able to cover the entire egg)

• A clear glass or bowl

• White vinegar (a few cups, depending on the size of your container)

Steps:

• Wash your egg gently in soap and water, to get rid of any bacteria on the surface of the shell. Check your egg for any cracks.

• Place the egg in the bottom of a glass or bowl. The container should be deep enough to cover the egg with vinegar.

• Pour just enough white vinegar over the egg to cover it.

• Watch the egg: after a little while you should see little bubbles of carbon dioxide forming on the surface of the shell. Chemistry in action!

• Place your container with the egg in the fridge: it might take a few days for the shell to totally dissolve.

• Once your egg is “done,” gently pour out the vinegar and “roll” the egg from the glass into your hand.

Color By Number

Even though most mammals don’t lay eggs, the way mammal babies grow is a lot like how a reptile or bird babies grow. A placentais an organ that works like an egg: it is made up of layers that help protect the growing baby. There are four major parts that an egg and a placenta share:

1. The chorion: where gas, like oxygen, is exchanged

2. The amnion: for protection, and helps keep the inside from drying out

3. The allantois: collects waste

4. The yolk sac:provides food for the growing baby

Use the pictures and color guide on the next page to find out just how similar laid eggs and a placenta are.

Homemade Amphibian Egg Pudding

Make your own amphibian eggs and eat them too! Yum!

Here is a yummy activity you will need to do with an adult!

You will need:

• 3 Tbs Instant Tapioca

• 2 cups of milk

• 3/4 cup of coconut milk

• 6 Tbs of sugar (you can reduce this if you would like. The coconut milk is fairly sweet on its own)

• 1 egg lightly beaten

• 2 kiwis

• green food coloring

• OPTIONAL: 1 tsp. vanilla (the recipe on the box calls for vanilla but I made mine without & it was great)

Steps:

• In a microwavable bowl, mix together the tapioca, milk, coconut milk, sugar, and the egg.

• Let it sit for 5 minutes.

• Cook it in the microwave on high for 12 minutes (stir it every 3 minutes).

• While it's cooking peel & mash the kiwis with a fork.

• Once it's cooked remove it & stir in the kiwis & a few drops of green food coloring. (Add your vanilla if you would like).

• Refrigerate it for 20 minutes to cool. 

Cornell’s Dinosaur Nest

Did you know that Cornell University has its very own dinosaur nest? It’s true, but probably not in the way you think!

Modern birds are dinosaurs, like the theropods they are descended from. A theropod is a dinosaur that walked on two legs with distinctive, three-pointed toed footprint (think T. rex!)

The Red-Tailed Hawks currently nesting on a light pole above one of the athletic fields probably aren’t acting too differently from how ancient dinosaurs treated their eggs: caring for them and leaving only when they have to.

Hawk “avian dinosaur” Behavior Checklist

While watching the nest, use the list below to keep track of the behaviors you see. How many do you think ancient dinosaurs also did?

Nest-Sitting Meditation

Sitting on eggs and waiting for them to hatch takes a long time, and a lot of patience! But what’s easy for birds and other egg-laying animals may be harder for people. With meditation (med-eh-tay-shun), you can find the same sort of peace that our feathered and scaly friends do when they have to sit for a long time.

Use these steps to try it for yourself:

1. Find a quiet, comfortable space to sit: criss-cross on the floor, or on the edge of your bed or chair

2. Close your eyes. No, you won’t be going to sleep!

3. Take deep breaths in, and let them out slowly

4. Let your thoughts pass through your mind, without “catching” them to focus on

5. If you hear loud noises or annoying sounds, let those pass through you too

6. Keep focusing on your breathing

Even though these steps sound easy, they take practice! Start meditating for one minute, then two, then three. Can you make it through ten minutes? More?

It can take up to 40 days for a Red-Tailed Hawk’s eggs to hatch. Can you imagine sitting for that long with only a few snack breaks? Let’s start small for now!

Help us continue to keep events and activities like this possible. We appreciate your support!