All about Dinosaur Day

For the record ... I am not a paleontologist. I've loved dinosaurs and paleontology since I was young but, no, a paleontologist I am not. Still, that doesn't stop me having a passion for the field and from taking a day each year with my kids learning about paleontology.

A small family tradition
Dinosaur Day started when I was looking for something fun to do with the kids while my wife was away for the weekend. Like most kids, my little ones have always enjoyed playing with plastic dinosaurs and reading dinosaur books. So I thought...why not spend an entire day dedicated to dinosaurs? I started poking around looking for activities and found the usual suspects - arts and crafts, games, etc ... but I wanted to go bigger. We've visited plenty of museums...so ... done that. Flying out to Dinosaur National Monument wasn't really practical. I began looking around and found that I could get my hands on some real fossils and I thought 'stage a dinosaur dig!' So I found a place in the yard I would be okay digging up, buried some fossils that I bought and the next day ... we dug. 

It's just grown from there - as the kids get older and as their attention spans grow we've added more and it's grown into quite the tradition.
A day full of paleontology
Starting with the dinosaur shaped pancakes we spend the day focused on all things paleontology. Two requirements - A) learn something B) have fun. 
A prize at the end!
The fact that the kids come out of the day owning some genuine fossils not only gets them excited, but it keeps the excitement going. They've got something real to show and something to talk about.

Keeping it real
I wanted to make the experience genuine. While little plastic dinosaurs and craft projects are great, I really wanted the kids to get a feel for the reality of paleontology. Going to Montana with shovels and picks in hand really isn't practical. Sifting through dirt to find fossils? Now that can keep the attention of a five year old. While we can't really spend a month carefully chipping rock from a fossil, the kids can certainly use picks and brushes to clean the dirt away from their fossilized treasures.

And it doesn't stop with the dig. Paleontology involves so much more - making fossil casts and replicas, sculpting filler fossils, careful note taking, the detective work involved in identifying bones, preparing exhibits, paleoart ... it all translates into great activities that can keep the attention of your little ones.