GUIDE
Extinction & Survival Explorer Guide
Learn together · approximately ages 4–8
Introduce extinction with care: explore the evidence for a world-changing event, the living things that survived and how ecosystems recovered.
Six facts to share
Extinction means a species ends
A species is extinct when no living members remain. Extinction has happened throughout Earth’s history.
Mass extinction is widespread
A mass extinction is an interval when unusually many species disappear across the world in a relatively short geological time.
A major event happened 66 million years ago
At the end of the Cretaceous Period, an asteroid struck near today’s Yucatán Peninsula and triggered rapid environmental change.
Food webs were disrupted
Dust and gases reduced sunlight, plants struggled and connected food webs lost many of the organisms that supported them.
Not every dinosaur vanished
All non-bird dinosaurs became extinct, but some bird lineages survived. Birds are living dinosaurs.
Survivors shaped new ecosystems
After the extinction, surviving birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and other groups diversified as ecosystems recovered.
Explorer word bank
- Species
- A group of living things that share many features and can reproduce.
- Extinct
- Having no living members left.
- Mass extinction
- A time when many species around the world disappear.
- Impact
- A collision, such as an asteroid striking Earth.
- Recovery
- The gradual rebuilding of life and ecosystems after disruption.
Build and change a paper food web
Use cards labelled sunlight, plant, insect, small animal and larger animal, plus pieces of string.
- Arrange the cards and join feeding relationships with string.
- Gently remove the sunlight card and notice which connections are affected.
- Return it, then remove a different card and compare the result.
- Talk about why survival depends on both traits and a changing environment.
Ask your explorer
- What is the difference between extinction and mass extinction?
- How could less sunlight affect a food web?
- Which dinosaurs are still alive today?
- Can you find Roaring Ridge on Dr. Rexington’s map?
Grown-up safety note
Some children may find extinction worrying. Emphasise that the event happened long ago, life continued, and people can help living species today by caring for habitats.