The Prehistoric Earth | School Holidays Wrap-Up!

By WCL librarians

As term 2 begins, let's look back at all the pter-riffic creations and dino-mite experiences from our April school holiday programme.

Kids Kids featured
Two librarians in inflatable dinosaur costumes working at the front desk at Brooklyn Library

The school holidays are over, and wow, what a great time we had celebrating The Prehistoric Earth and Joan Wiffen's fantastic achievements over the last two weeks!

Thank you so very much to everyone who came along, made a dinosaur noise, tried out a new craft, stuck your hands into some clay, learned a new dinosaur fact, completed our time travel quest throughout the library, or joined in a workshop with our fantastic friends from GNS Science | Te Pū Ao.

Now that we're back in term-time we've tidied up all our Parasaurolophus nests and all the dinosaurs have been put back to work behind the issues desk.

To continue the celebration though, we've put together some of our favourite photos from across the holidays. Maybe you'll spot yourself?

Events with GNS Science | Te Pū Ao

We are incredibly grateful to the team at GNS Science | Te Pū Ao for generously donating their time and expertise to bring the geology and animals of ancient Aotearoa to life in our libraries. Their fantastic team of earth scientists ran a series of five workshops across four of our libraries, bringing geology, volcanology, seismology, and palaeontology to the tamariki of Wellington over the school holidays.

These workshops looked like so much fun! To get a peek at what went on, check out the gallery below.

GNS scientists and children stand around the small shake table.
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GNS Science Seismologists demonstrate their 'shake table' at the Seismologist for a Day workshop at Island Bay Community Centre.

Two children build with skewers and plastic joiners on a base plate. One holds a vertical skewer steady while the other adds a joiner on top.
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Two future seismologists build a structure to test on the 'shake table' at the Seismologist for a Day workshop at Island Bay Community Centre.

A child in a purple shirt holds a 3D printed model of a volcano on a round disc
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Tamariki examine some 3D printed models of volcanoes at the Volcanologist for a Day morning workshop at Te Awa-a-Taia Ruth Gotlieb (Kilbirnie) Library.

Two GNS scientists in orange hi vis gesture towards an erupting coke bottle on the grass
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GNS scientists create a small volcano outside the library at the Volcanologist for a Day morning workshop at Te Awa-a-Taia Ruth Gotlieb (Kilbirnie) Library.

A scientist holds an air filtration mask and fluro orange full body suit up to some interested children
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A GNS Science Volcanologist explains some safety equipment at the Volcanologist for a Day afternoon workshop at Te Awa-a-Taia Ruth Gotlieb (Kilbirnie) Library.

Volcanic rock samples laid out on a round board. A child with curly hair reaches one arm out to feel a sample of welded ignimbrite
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A future volcanologist inspects some samples of volcanic rock at the Volcanologist for a Day afternoon workshop at Te Awa-a-Taia Ruth Gotlieb (Kilbirnie) Library.

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Future geologists and petrologists gather around a table to examine sediment cores at the Geologist for a Day workshop at Te Māhanga Karori Library.

Children and GNS scientists gather around a table to examine some large replica fossils.
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GNS Science palaeontologists show off some fossils and fossil replicas at the Palaeontologist for a Day workshop at Te Takapū o Patukawenga Mervyn Kemp (Tawa) Library.

Tamariki around a table with small brushes and wooden picks remove sediment from around fossilised shells.
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Young palaeontologists excavate their own fossils at the Palaeontologist for a Day workshop at Te Takapū o Patukawenga Mervyn Kemp (Tawa) Library.

Dinochorus

Over the holidays we held two Dinochorus workshops, one at Waitohi Johnsonville Library and the other at Motu-kairangi Miramar Library.

At these workshops our librarians and the attending rangatahi learned up some of the current theories of dinosaur vocalisation – how dinosaurs made noise and what that might have sounded like – before bringing out the recording equipment and getting to record and edit their own dinosaur-like vocalisations.

Each session created their own prehistoric soundscape, and we're very excited to be able to share the soundscape created at Waitohi Johnsonville Library with you all!

Enjoy the sounds of prehistoric Johnsonville, as interpreted by tamariki during our April school holiday programme, The Prehistoric Earth.

Other events with your librarians

This last photo album is full of photos from all the other events we held over the holidays.

Did you attend a CRAFTosaurus session? Maybe you played our Greek and Latin flashcard game at a Build-A-Dinosaur workshop, got your hands into some clay at a Fossil Footprint Workshop, or created a hatching dinosaur at a Dinosaur Egg Bath Bombs session?

Thank you to everyone who came along to our events, we hope you had a wonderful time!

A textured green dinosaur made out of a paper plate with a triangular head and pink and pink and blue feathers on its tail.
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A paper plate dinosaur creation from the Tapu Te Ranga Island Bay Library CRAFTosaurus session.

A librarian in a dinosaur onesie and a librarian wearing a skirt patterned with tiny dinosaurs sit in front of a group of parents and babies.
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Our well-dressed presenters begin a Baby Roar and Rhyme session at Waitohi Johnsonville Library.

A crowd of children sit on a tarp in front of a librarian reading a picture book aloud to them all.
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Fossil enthusiasts listen to a story before the clay is brought out at the Fossil Footprint Workshop at Waitohi Johnsonville Library.

A paper plate dinosaur with half a paper [plate for the body, and head, legs, and tail made of yellow card. Pen drawings and feathers adorn the body.
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A wonderfully colourful paper plate dinosaur from CRAFTosaurus at Waitohi Johnsonville Library.

The worktable with clay rolled out on sheets of card, hands press shells and leaves into the clay to leave imprints.
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Tamariki use shells, leaves, and dinosaur footprint stamps to create their own fossil prints at the Fossil Footprint Workshop at Ngā Puna Waiora Newtown Library.

Cardboard sheets with circles of clay decorated with prints of dinosaur feet and other textures are held up to the camera.
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Tamariki display their clay creations at the Te Takapū o Patukawenga Mervyn Kemp (Tawa) Library Fossil Footprint Workshop.

A drawing of a fanged purple dinosaur with five horns and wings, under three cards that say viroso venom, nax master, and magnicornis big-horn.
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Dinosaur creation in action at the Build-A-Dinosaur workshop at Te Awa-a-Taia Ruth Gotlieb (Kilbirnie) Library.

A child colours the head of her paper plate dinosaur pink. The dinosaur's body is orange with coloured feathers with red legs and tail
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Creation in action act CRAFTosaurus at Ōtari Wadestown Library.

at a newspaper covered table, a child's hands shape bright green bath bomb mixture around a plastic dinosaur.
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A child shapes their egg at Dinosaur Egg Bath Bombs at Island Bay Community Centre.

From above, children glue cotton buds to black dinosaur silhouettes tocreate skeleton shapes.
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Tamariki create their own dinosaur skeletons at CRAFTosaurus at Te Awe Library.