This is inspired by the book from Hugh Murphy: T-Rex Trying (2012). It can be regarded as a variation of the Simon Says game. The kids have to act like a T-Rex with very short arms and then try various activities the teacher tells them.
The game is appropriate for younger children, maybe grades 3-4. It needs little to no preparation, the playing time is thus very flexible. Five minutes could be a good start. T-Rex Trying can be a great warm-up game, because it involves lots of physical activity. If it is played more often it could also be turned into a routine for starting the lesson or in-bewteen breaks.
The game can introduce/ reinforce new vocabulary, especially verbs of activities. Children need to employ their imagination and learn to orientate in space to act out the movements. If they are familiar with the game already, they can propose new activities as well. As an even further step, they can turn the activities into a story and invent a framing narrative.
The teacher can use the book or think of own ideas. He needs to be in the front, and the children can arrange as a group standing opposite in a circle.
At first, the teacher lets the children find into their role: Do they know what a T-Rex looks like? He could also show some pictures from the book. Afterwards, he proposes the things T-Rex is trying to do: "T-Rex is trying to climb a tree, T-Rex is trying to put on a jacket...". Next, the kids might make suggestions and take the teacher's role: "What do you think is T-Rex trying to do next? Can you show us?" The book could help with ideas. For the story extension, the teacher could ask: "Let us think of a story. T-Rex is trying to get out of bed. What happens next?" Every one then takes turns in retelling the previous part and adding a new sentence/activity.
Hi Sophie, I like your entry and the picture makes me laugh, but on the Wiki we can only use images that are licence-free. Here is a link to a T-rex picture you can use. On the Creative Commons page of our Wiki there is an example of what correct citation should look like.
Victoria Mojado from CeDiS gave me the name of a book for teachers on
using OERs (Open Educational Resources).
Außerdem gibt es das komplette Buch „Freie Unterrichtsmaterialien finden,
rechtssicher einsetzen, selbst machen und teilen“ von Jöran Muuß-Merholz
als PDF
<https://www.was-ist-oer.de/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2018/01/Joeran-Muuss-Merholz-Freie-Unterrichtsmaterialien-Beltz-2018.pdf>.
The section on licenses starts on page 48 and there is a nice graphic on
page 51.
