He may have seemed scary, too scary for some, but this T-Rex turned out to be pussycat when he visited youngsters at Rushmere Hall Primary School in Ipswich.
Stalking the hall, swinging his head from side to side and ocassionally baring his teeth, the prehistoric predator towered above the nursery and reception class who were first to meet him; followed by years two and three.
Eyeing them up like they were lunch* it turned out the two metre tall, four metre long dinosaur was just looking for a friend.
Coming when called by the enthusiastic pupils who cuddled him, stroked his head and tested his impressive teeth, he soon had them eating out of his claws. Older children stopped to watch, enviously peering through the windows on their way to class.
The visit was arranged by the Ipswich Regent and World on Stage to promote interactive adventure story Jurassic Adventures at the theatre on March 30 during its first UK tour.
Aimed at ages three up, it focuses on Professor McCoy who runs a dinosaur centre. When a cyclone strikes during a trip to the Peruvian jungle it’s up to his teenage daughter Alex, glamorous but tactless paleo-botanist Paris Milton and hapless young paleontology student Diego Carter to rescue him. Meanwhile back at Jurassic Adventures, the resident dinosaurs are getting restless...
“We’ve two dinosaurs in the show. One about this size, a T-Rex called Tyson; the smaller velociraptor Dana and a baby dinosaur called Fluffy,” said Jurassic Adventures tour manager Tom Aspin, who was joined at the school by performer Conner McLeod.
“Kids love it, the show’s been getting some good screams and good reactions... And there’s lots of audience participation.”
Neil Challis, headteacher at Rushmere Hall Primary, said visits like this added to the children’s studies and provided a wow factor, particularly for the youngest ones.
“These kind of experiences lead to bigger discussions. It gets them talking and adds value to the work they’re doing in the classroom. Things like this don’t come up often.”
Jurassic Adventures comes to the Ipswich Regent 1.30pm and 4.30pm on March 30.
• No children were eaten during the writing of this story.
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