St Aiden’s Homeschool

Footsteps on the Road to Learning

I’m Learning About Dinosaurs

Triceratops
Includes activities on Earth Science & Palaeontology
Lesson Plans, Crafts, Activity Sheets & Teacher/Parent Guides/Resources

Gr K-6
www.staidenshomeschool.com
Donnette E Davis
 Learning About Dinosaurs K-6

Triceratops

What did they look like?

The body of the Triceratops was big and round, planted on top of short sturdy legs.
It was 8 meters long, about 3 meters tall and weighed somewhere between 6 and 8
tons (the size of an elephant).

Triceratops means "Three Horned Face" in Greek. It is called that because it has
three horns – two above its eyes and one on its nose. It had a big frill that extended
up above the head.

The horns were used for defence, against such enemies as the Tyrannosaurus. When
threatened, the Triceratops would stand and fight. Its sharp horns would act as
spears and cause a lot of damage. It also had a powerful bite.

Scientists do not all agree on what its head frill was used for. Some say it could have
been a defence – like a shield, to protect its body. Some say it was used to give a
warning to members of the herd by changing colour.

What did they eat?

Triceratops was a herbivore and ate bushes and plants that were close to the
ground. We know this because it had teeth that are good for chopping up
vegetation and its head was massive and would have been difficult to lift high in
the air. A triceratops' teeth act like scissors, and it would have been able to shred
even very tough leaves and woody branches and roots. Animals that eat woody
foods have to be big. They need to process the food very slowly and have a long
digestive tract. An elephant can digest a tree branch but a human cannot.
Triceratops was a very big animal, so it could have eaten food that took a long
time to digest.

Unlike any animal today, a Triceratops had a beak in front of its mouth and teeth in
back. The beak would have a hard covering like a parrot beak. Some scientists
think that Triceratops ate cycads which are a type of plant that was common in the
Cretaceous. These plants look like a small palm tree with a crown of sharp, spiky
leaves. A Triceratops could have used its strong beak to strip off the leaves before
eating the trunk. Other scientists argue that these plants are very poisonous so it is
unlikely that any dinosaur ate them.

When did they live?

Triceratops lived in the late Cretaceous period, around 70 to 65 million years ago.

Where did they live?

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 Learning About Dinosaurs K-6
Triceratops lived in the North American continent. Remains have been found in the
United States (USA) states of Colorado, Montana, North and South Dakota, and
Wyoming, and in the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

How were they discovered?

The first Triceratops was discovered in 1887, in Colorado, USA. Since then many of
their fossils have been found with Tyrannosaurus tooth marks!

What do we need to learn?

• What their head frill was used for.

• If they were really hunted by T.Rex.

A Triceratops skeleton in a museum.

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 Learning About Dinosaurs K-6

In your own words answer the following questions in as much detail as you possibly can. For younger
learners it would be beneficial for the parent/educator to make notes based on the child’s answers.

What did they look like? (Their size, how they walked, some interesting facts
about their different parts, etc)
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What did they eat? (Plant-eaters, omnivorous, or carnivorous, or more?)

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When did they live? (Not all species of dinosaurs were alive during the K-T event.
There were several development periods for different dinosaur species and some
were likely "ancestors" of other dinosaurs found in later periods.)
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 Learning About Dinosaurs K-6

Where did they live? (Ocean, shallow seas, jungle, grasslands, etc.)
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How were they discovered? (Discussions about where the fossils were found and
perhaps even names and information about the discoverer.)
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What do we need to learn? (To demonstrate that science is still evolving and
that we don't know all of the answers.)
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 Learning About Dinosaurs K-6
Acknowledgements, Thanks & Terms of Use
We would love to hear your comments on this workbook. If you have a moment please email your
comments and suggestions to feedback@staidenshomeschool.com

Other Volumes In Our Series Of Workbooks

AFRICA
ALPHABET, VOWELS & CONSONANTS
ANIMALS
COLOURS, SHAPES, PUZZLES
DOLCH WORDS , WORD FAMILIES & PHONICS
NUMBERS AND COUNTING

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Special thanks to:

U.S. Department of Education, Office of
Communications and Outreach,
Helping Your Child Learn Science,
Washington, D.C., 2005.
AND
http://edc2.usgs.gov

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Donnette E Davis © 2009

St Aiden’s Homeschool, South Africa & The Child Development Spot
P O Box 13720
Cascades
3202
KwaZulu-Natal
Republic of South Africa
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Donnette E Davis 2009 www.staidenshomeschool.com 266