We have a challenge for you! Our friend Dippy the Diplodocus wants you to make a distinctive dinosaur shape from items you find outside. Dippy isn’t picky about looks, if you don’t forget its extremely long neck and tail.
The Longest Dinosaur That Ever Lived
Diplodocus was one of the longest known dinosaurs and lived during the end of the Jurassic Period, around 150 million years ago. Diplodocus was known to be a vegetarian and loved stripping the leaves off branches for a snack, like many other herbivores.
Instead of using leaves for a snack, see if you can find a leaf on the ground with a long stem that can represent Dippy’s neck or tail!
Dippy will need something to represent its four legs too. Maybe you can break a stick into pieces so Dippy can walk!
The History of Dippy The Dinosaur
In 1899, a team of scientists discovered and assembled the Diplodocus carnegii. This was Carnegie Museum’s very first dinosaur find! In 1999, a life-size statue of Dippy was placed in front of the museum to celebrate his 100th anniversary of being Pittsburgh’s Dinosaur.
Although Diplodocus wasn’t named by Andrew Carnegie, he was able to donate complete casts of Dippy skeletons to multiple locations around the world. There are 12 museums with Dippy replica exhibits worldwide on display and we have the real one right here!
Celebrating 120 Years of Dippy
It’s been 120 years since Dippy became the face of our museum and we can’t think of a better way to celebrate than creating your own Dippy from nature. Are you up for the challenge?
Fun Fact
Did you know Dippy is on Twitter? @dippy_the_dino
Dippy has a lot to say every day!
Find Dippy on Twitter with your parent’s permission for museum updates, facts about prehistoric creatures, and dinosaur memes.
The Dippy Challenge
Create Dippy’s distinctive shape from different items found outside!
Step One:
•Find a leaf stem on the ground that can represent Dippy’s long neck.
• Bend it into a curved shape.
• Find a tiny leaf (like one from a clover) for Dippy’s head.
Step Two:
•Find something round (a rock, a leaf, or whatever you can find) on the ground for Dippy’s body.
• Dippy has four legs, so find a stick and break it into four pieces. Now Dippy can walk!
Step Three:
•Find something else long to represent Dippy’s tail. A blade of grass works perfectly.
• If you want, you can add a colorful scarf on your Dippy like the statue outside the museum wears. We used a pipe cleaner, but we’d love to see how creative you can be!
We’d love to see your Dippy creations and post them on our blog to celebrate 120 years of Dippy!
Tag Dippy on Twitter @dippy_the_dino with the hashtag #TheDippyChallenge or email your creations to nature360@carnegiemnh.org.
Try more fun activities in Nature Lab!
