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A painted enchanted forest with glowing red toadstools and a shining path between the trees.

FREE STORY STARTERS · AGES 5–11

Dinosaur story starters for kids

Here are 24 dinosaur story starters for ages 5 to 11, from a dinosaur egg in the garden to a Year 6 fossil mystery, plus a generator, a story plan and a word bank.

Reviewed by Joshua Younger, Senior Educator, on .

Story starter generator

Only starters that come with three choices for what happens next.

24 starters in this set

Example starter · Dinosaur · Years 1–2

There was a big egg in the garden. It was spotty, and it was rocking.

Prints every starter for the year group and theme chosen above, with the dinosaur word bank.

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In Litsee your child turns a first line like this into an illustrated story read aloud: they create the hero and choose what happens next. 7-day free trial; a card is needed to start.

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The generator picks from a fixed list in your browser. It doesn’t use AI, and nothing you choose is saved or sent anywhere.

All 24 dinosaur story starters

KS1 (Years 1–2) · ages 5–7

  1. There was a big egg in the garden. It was spotty, and it was rocking.
  2. Jamal’s new pet was green, very tall and liked to eat leaves from the top of trees.
  3. The dinosaur at the museum winked at Lily.Has three “What happens next?” choices
  4. Stomp, stomp, stomp! Something was walking past the school.
  5. Ben dug in the sandpit and found a bone as long as his arm.
  6. The baby dinosaur was lost. It wanted its mum.
  7. Nana’s old clock had a button that said “Dinosaur Time”. Poppy pressed it.
  8. The dinosaur was too big for the bus, so it walked next to it all the way to town.

Years 3–4 · ages 7–9

  1. The fossil had been in Grandpa’s shed for forty years. Tonight, for the first time, it was warm.
  2. Aisha’s school trip to the museum was going brilliantly, until the Stegosaurus followed them onto the coach.
  3. The time machine had three buttons: Past, Present and Do Not Press. Ellis pressed the third one.Has three “What happens next?” choices
  4. Every morning for a week, the footprints in the frost had been bigger.
  5. The volcano rumbled in the distance, and the herd of Triceratops began to move. The smallest one stayed behind.
  6. “It’s just a big lizard,” said Oscar. Then the “big lizard” opened its wings.
  7. Hana had spent her whole summer digging at the quarry. On the last day, the rock beneath her trowel blinked.
  8. Somebody had been eating all the cabbages on Mr Patel’s allotment, and the teeth marks were enormous.

Years 5–6 · ages 9–11

  1. The palaeontologist’s notebook ended mid-sentence: “If anyone finds the second egg, do not let it hatch near…”
  2. When the river flooded, it washed away half the hillside and revealed a skeleton nobody could identify.
  3. In the year 2150, scientists brought back a single dinosaur. Now it had escaped, and only Kit knew where it was hiding.Has three “What happens next?” choices
  4. Sixty-six million years ago, a young Parasaurolophus with the loudest honk in the valley decided it was time to see what lay beyond the hills.
  5. The museum’s new exhibit came with a label that read “Do not feed”. Joe assumed it was a joke.
  6. It was the smallest dinosaur ever discovered, small enough to sit in a teacup, and it had just walked across Dev’s homework.
  7. Everyone at the dig knew the rules: record everything, touch nothing, and never, ever take a fossil home. Maya broke all three before lunch.
  8. The footprints led from the cliff edge to the sea, which was odd, because they were the footprints of something that couldn’t swim.

What happens next? Three choose-your-path starters

Read the starter, read the three choices aloud and let your child pick one, then write that part of the story.

Years 1–2

The dinosaur at the museum winked at Lily.

  1. It climbs down from its stand when the museum closes.
  2. It whispers that it is hungry and asks for her apple.
  3. It shows her a secret door behind the fossils.

Years 3–4

The time machine had three buttons: Past, Present and Do Not Press. Ellis pressed the third one.

  1. He lands in a valley where a herd of dinosaurs is about to cross a river.
  2. Dinosaurs start appearing in his town, one every hour.
  3. He meets a time-travelling dinosaur who has pressed the same button.

Years 5–6

In the year 2150, scientists brought back a single dinosaur. Now it had escaped, and only Kit knew where it was hiding.

  1. Kit decides to hide the dinosaur until she can prove it is gentle.
  2. Kit tells the scientists, but asks them to make a promise first.
  3. Kit discovers that the dinosaur escaped to find something it had lost.

A dinosaur story recipe

Dinosaur stories usually work in one of two ways: the child goes back in time, or a dinosaur turns up today. Either way, the plot has five steps.

  1. 1

    The meeting

    Hero and dinosaur meet: a time machine, a hatching egg, a fossil that wakes up, a museum after closing time.

  2. 2

    The difference

    Show how big, loud or unusual the dinosaur is compared with the hero’s normal world.

  3. 3

    The need

    The dinosaur needs something: food it can eat, a lost nest, a way home, somewhere to hide from the rain.

  4. 4

    The obstacle

    Grown-ups, a storm, a river or a ticking clock makes it harder to help.

  5. 5

    The goodbye

    The hero helps, and the dinosaur goes home (or stays, secretly). End with something the hero keeps.

Want to plan it on paper? Use the free story mountain template, fill in the five boxes online and print it.

Dinosaur words

Twelve words to use in a dinosaur story, with meanings a child can understand.

fossil
the remains or shape of a plant or animal that lived long ago, preserved in rock
palaeontologist
a scientist who studies fossils to find out about life long ago
extinct
no longer alive anywhere on Earth
herbivore
an animal that eats only plants
carnivore
an animal that eats meat
prehistoric
from the time before people wrote things down
skeleton
the frame of bones inside an animal’s body
enormous
very, very big
herd
a large group of animals that live and move together
volcano
a mountain that can send out hot melted rock, ash and gas
excavate
to dig carefully to uncover something buried
Jurassic
a time about 200 to 145 million years ago when many dinosaurs lived

Curriculum links

Where a dinosaur story fits the National Curriculum in England:

  • “writing narratives about personal experiences and those of others (real and fictional)”

    Year 2, Writing – composition (statutory)

  • “describe in simple terms how fossils are formed when things that have lived are trapped within rock”

    Year 3, Rocks (statutory)

  • “recognise that living things have changed over time and that fossils provide information about living things that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago”

    Year 6, Evolution and inheritance (statutory)

How to use these with your child or class

Many young children are dinosaur experts, and a dinosaur starter lets them show it. Before writing, ask your child to choose the dinosaur and tell you three facts about it. Those facts become the story’s details: a long-necked plant-eater might need help reaching food after a storm; a small, fast dinosaur might be the one who spots danger first.

Make the dinosaur a character, not a monster. The best dinosaur stories give the dinosaur a feeling and a need: it is lost, hungry, curious or looking after an egg. That steers the plot towards helping and away from chasing, and it suits even the youngest writers. If a story starts to become a battle, ask “What does the dinosaur want?” and the plot usually turns.

Size is the dinosaur writer’s best tool. Encourage comparisons a child can picture: as tall as a house, a footprint the size of a paddling pool, a sneeze that blows the washing off the line. In Year 2 this is a natural place to practise expanded noun phrases such as “the enormous, muddy footprint”. In Key Stage 2, children can use size to build suspense: show the footprint before the dinosaur.

Dinosaur stories link neatly to science. Fossils appear in the Year 3 rocks topic and again in Year 6, when children learn that fossils tell us about life millions of years ago. A class can write a story about finding a fossil, then a short fact box explaining how the fossil formed. Mixing fact and fiction like this is good practice for knowing the difference.

Spelling the names is half the fun. Write the dinosaur’s name on a card before you start, break it into chunks (Tri-cer-a-tops) and let your child copy it whenever it appears. For younger children, inventing a friendly nickname for the dinosaur saves a lot of rubbing out.

At home, try the museum game. Pretend the sofa is a museum at night and your child is the guard. Read a starter aloud, then let them act out what the dinosaur does before writing or telling it. In class, give each table a different starter from the same band and swap halfway, so each group finishes another group’s story.

Worked example (KS1)

  • Starter: “The baby dinosaur was lost. It wanted its mum.”
  • Talk first: What kind of dinosaur? Where is it? How does it feel?
  • Sentence 1: The baby dinosaur sat by the pond and cried big tears.
  • Sentence 2: Ruby gave it a leaf and it stopped crying.
  • Sentence 3: They followed the big footprints and found its mum by the trees.

About this page

Reviewed by Joshua Younger · How it was made · Sources

Sources

The curriculum links on this page are copied word for word from these documents, with the year and section each applies to.

How this page was made

Reviewed by Joshua Younger, Senior Educator, on .

Starters drafted with AI help and checked against the National Curriculum by Litsee. Spotted something to improve? Email info@litsee.com.

The generator picks from the starters shown on these pages, in your browser. It doesn’t use AI, and it doesn’t save or send anything you choose.

Questions parents and teachers ask

How do I stop a dinosaur story becoming a battle?

Give the dinosaur a need, such as being lost, hungry or looking after an egg, and make the hero the one who helps. Asking “What does the dinosaur want?” usually turns the plot from chasing to problem solving.

Should children use real dinosaur facts in a made-up story?

Yes, a few true details make the story more believable, and fossils are part of the Year 3 and Year 6 science curriculum in England. Keep the facts light and let the plot lead.

Which dinosaur starters suit a 5-year-old?

Choose the KS1 starters, such as the spotty egg in the garden or the lost baby dinosaur. Let your child tell the story out loud or draw it first, and write down the words they say.

Can I print these dinosaur story starters?

Yes. Press “Print this set” in the generator to print the starters you have selected with the word bank, or print this page as it is. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

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