Let’s Explore Dinosaurs!

If your child is fascinated by the dinosaurs in Dinosaur Train, here are a few activities that will capture their imagination and help them think like paleontologists!

Bury some small plastic dinosaurs or other small objects in a garden bed, in some sand, or in a pot of soil. Use simple digging tools — such a plastic spoon and a paintbrush — and let your kids see what they can uncover.

Using a dinosaur picture book, compare the teeth of different types of dinosaurs. Ask your child why they think some dinosaurs had sharp teeth (meat eaters) and some had flat teeth (plant eaters). Invite your child to look in a mirror at their own teeth. What different shapes of teeth do they have? Talk about how humans have teeth that are good for eating both meat and plants.

Paleontologists use fossilized animal tracks to study dinosaurs — their size, how they moved and where they lived. They also look at details around fossils — such as evidence of ancient plant life — to make guesses about what the dinosaurs ate and how they lived.

Take some time to discover the animals and insects that share your neighborhood. What critters live near you? What can you figure out about where they live, what they do and what they eat? Take a walk around the block or through a local park and look for clues. These might include:

• Animal tracks: Look for animal tracks in the dirt, mud, sand or snow. Were they made by a big animal or a small animal? A mammal or a bird? If you find an unusual track, snap a picture and identify it at home using online resources such as NatureTracking.
• Creature Structures: Hunt for bird nests in trees, in shrubs or nestled against buildings. What size and shape is it? What materials is it made of? What other creature homes can you find: Squirrel or rabbit nests? Ant hills? Deer dens? Wasp nests? Spider webs? Mouse burrows?

Want to learn the names of 26 dinosaurs? Songs are a great tool for memorizing, and kids love the feeling of knowing sophisticated words. Watch the Dinosaur A to Z song from Dinosaur Train a few times and see how many names you and your kids can pick up. Can you learn the whole song as a family?

Using play dough or paper and crayons, have fun creating your own dinosaurs. Will you make a meat-eater (carnivore) or a plant-eater (omnivore)? How big will it be? What color? Will it live in a desert, in the arctic, in a jungle or near an ocean? What kind of teeth will it have? Will it have any distinctive features — such as a head crest or spikes on its tail? Flip through some dinosaur picture books to gather ideas!

How big were the giant dinosaurs of the past? Use a measuring tape to help kids see the big picture! On a long sidewalk, mark a starting place with a cone or sidewalk chalk. Then, measure the length of the following three dinosaurs:

• Tyrannosaurus Rex = 40 feet
• Spinosaurus = 60 feet
• Argentinosaurus = 100 feet

Use a stopwatch to see how long it takes for your child to walk from one end of each dinosaur to the other!