Join the Building With Dinosaurs Minecraft Challenge

When kids dig-in to the BBC Earth and Minecraft Education Building With Dinosaurs challenge, they transform into paleontologists. In this gigantosaurus-sized challenge, students enter worlds based on the legendary BBC Earth series Walking With Dinosaurs, to dig up dino-blocks and reconstruct three amazing dinosaurs — Spinosaurus, Triceratops, and Lusotitan — using detailed skeletons as guides. Along the way, students learn about the features that made each dinosaur a powerhouse, and practice the skills paleontologists use every day, from observation and data collection to analytical thinking. 

Walking With Dinosaurs: A Story, Millions of Years in the Making

It was big 25 years ago; now it’s back and even bigger. The new Walking With Dinosaurs, coproduced by the BBC and PBS, showcases the lives of six incredible dinosaurs. From the Badlands to Portugal, travel the prehistoric world to watch six dinosaur stories and learn the latest information about how dinosaurs hunted, fought, and died. Then dig into the Minecraft challenge to dig up Spinosaurus, Triceratops, and Lusotitan. 

Walking With Dinosaurs is about more than drama. Each story is supported by scientific evidence, from the fossil record and from studying modern-day dinosaur descendants. That, and the advanced CGI used to create the retellings, mean that these dinosaurs aren’t the ones you studied in school — they’re based on the most up-to-date dino-realizations, which means they’re more realistic and more life-like than ever before. 

Do The Challenge at Home 

If you have a dinosaur fanatic at home, watch Walking With Dinosaurs and use what you learn about Spinosaurus, Triceratops, and Lusotitan to unearth and construct their skeletons in the Minecraft Education Building with Dinosaurs challenge. Once students have constructed their dinosaurs, invite family and friends to see their creations in a museum gallery with interactive images that put their dinosaurs in different scenes. 

Or Bring It to School

Students can unearth dino-blocks representing skin, eyes, and teeth and create models of a Spinosaurus, Triceratops, and Lusotitan either as part of a dinosaur unit, or as an extension to a biology or Earth science unit. 

Don’t stop at digging! Use the Dinosaur Challenge to reinforce students’ knowledge and skills: 

• Talk about the different clues that paleontologists use to understand dinosaurs’ stories before students go on their dino-dig so they understand exactly what they’re digging up with each dino-block. Watch Episode 6: Island of Giants to learn how paleontologists figured out how one Lusotitan was injured, but continued to march on.

• Research what the world looked like when Spinosaurus, Triceratops, or Lusotitan lived, and compare that with the prehistoric habitats in the museum gallery. What adaptations did each dinosaur have that made it successful in their world? For example, watch Episode 1: The Orphan, and talk about the features Triceratops had that helped it survive in a world full of predators. 

• Learn about the skills that paleontologists use every day and how students can use the same skills in their Building with Dinosaurs challenge. Watch Episode 2: The River Dragon and talk about the skills paleontologists used to unearth and understand the Spinosaurus. After doing their own dino-dig, what questions do students have for paleontologists? 

Check out the Building With Dinosaurs challenge trailer and download the challenge!