Getting prehistoric

Hello and welcome!

I'm Alex, a Science teacher and presenter, and I run Let's Get Prehistoric - a brand new way to get children excited about Science by mixing it with DINOSAURS!!!

To be honest, it isn't just dinosaurs, no no - it's so much more than that. I've got a real penchant for the bits of prehistory that are really...different. Really big, really small, really weird - I like the things that make you stop and say 'wow'. Those are the things that my shows are about, and for that reason, Let's Get Prehistoric is more than just talks.

In all my sessions, I back up what I talk about with lots of really big models. I've got a great big pterosaur wing, for example, 6 metres across, a life-sized reconstruction of the wing of possibly the largest flying creature ever to have lived. That was a joint effort between me and the best D.T. department ever, and it's really what brought Let's Get Prehistoric to life.

Since we're taking models, I've also got an orthocone - a 3 metre long cone-shaped shell that used to have a head like a squid's poking out of the wide end (imagine an ammonite, and imagine that you could uncoil it and flatten it out so that it lay straight - that would be an orthocone).

My pride and joy, though, is my Meganeura. Meganeura was a Carboniferous dragonfly oh so very much larger than anything alive today. The wingspan could reach 75cm!! It was unbelievably huge! Making that was a great deal of fun, and I shall be blogging about the experience very soon. There was an awful lot of PVA involved and some novel use of clingfilm.

There's lots in the pipeline for Let's Get Prehistoric. I'm always looking for new inspiration for the shows and new ways of making things to make them even mor exciting. I hope to work with acclaimed sculptor and artist Sophie Dickens to create some really amazing reconstructions of some of the most brilliant prehistoric creatures ever. It's not just making things, of course. I'm working on a few new talks and workshops, too - I'm really keen to develop a show on how oxygen changed the world. I really think it could be great, really fun and fast-moving, lots to work out. This would be for older kids, I'm thinking GCSE and up.

For younger children, 'Who's That Dinosaur' is rapidly becoming more than a talk, and turning into a bit of a puppet show - one of my favourite tools to use for the drama side of the workshops is stick puppetry, so hopefully I'll be creating some more of those, soon, too.

As for the middle of the age-range, 'Life-Sized Palaeontology' is always going to be a favourite of mine. It's been very popular with children from year 5 up to year 8 (the oldest who have seen it so far), and I will be showcasing it at the Lyme Regis Fossil Festival's schools' day this year, which is tremendously exciting!

Anyway - quite a rambly start from me, but hopefully you've felt from this little snippet of Alex-ness just how excited I am to be doing what I'm doing. If you've any thoughts about the business, the blog or the creatures, or if you'd like to ask any questions or book a show, please contact me on alex@letsgetprehistoric.com.

Hope to hear from you soon, and don't forget to get prehistoric!

:) Alex