Himali Patil - Dinosaurs play in Tolworth

What is the project about?

The Community Brain declared April 2022 as International Dinosaur Month. In the 1980's a few miles away from Tolworth, scientists found a Baryonyx claw which was a fish-eating dinosaur. The Community Brain wanted to celebrate this discovery and indulge the residents of Tolworth and neighbouring areas in the world of natural history through fun family activities in their neighbourhood.

Why is this important?

We started testing out what children like around the area by introducing small Dinosaur-related activities along Tolworth Broadway. We started by hiding plastic toy dinosaurs along the Broadway and asking families to go on a dinosaur hunt through our social media channels. We soon learned through several conversations with local community members and on social media that people loved learning and talking about Dinosaurs - there was a large appetite for such activities. We soon went on to conduct more dinosaur-related workshops.

How did I do it?

We conducted play-doh and craft workshops revolving around making dinosaurs of their own with children at the First in Tolworth market which takes place on the first Sunday of every month. It is a way to engage children in conversations around dinosaurs and a way for us to learn what they like about the topic. This was a year-long project.

Worksheets designed by Josephine Miller for children to draw their own dinosaurs and give them a personality

I designed colouring sheets for children to colour in an aquatic scene in the dinosaur era

Our stall at the First in Tolworth Market

Craft workshops where children created their own dinosaur masks and head-dresses

I designed school packs with dinosaur-related activities which we distributed to several schools in the Tolworth area

Workshop held at the Hook centre library

Feedback box to understand what people like about dinosaurs

I spray-painted the geological timeline of the earth on the pavement. The timeline was 800 m long starting from the Tolworth roundabout which was the 'present day' and spanned 252 million years to the beginning of the Triassic period, ending at the entrance of the Tolworth Court Farm Fields nature reserve.

The walk to the Nature reserve from the roundabout was meant to feel like a walk through time as significant years were highlighted and the beginning and end of certain periods.

The stencils were cut at Kingston University with the help of 121 Collective a design and make collective based locally.

Here is a video that showcases the timeline and the idea behind it

Dinosaur footprints were spray-painted on the pavement to signpost pedestrians towards the events taking place at the Tolworth station

I hand-cut stencils and used chalk spray. This encouraged people to follow the footprints to the station and Nature reserve