The highlight of our visits to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) was of course the hall of dinosaurs where the vicious Allosaurus is quite popular along with the Triceratops. Something about those meticulously assembled bones holds a sway and sense of wonder for me and my kids that doesn't fade with time. The Jurassic Park movies are still a yearly viewing requirement for all of us.
Our visits to the museum gift shop yielded useful items. First there were stickers. It's a scientific fact that all children love stickers, but when these stickers are dinosaur stickers the reward has a new dimension. Would it be a carnivorous species (best) or to quote Jurassic park a vegiesaurus? Would it be a large species, or one of the thousands of small dinosaurs you don't hear so much about? Dinosaur stickers took us through many early learning experiences (from potty training on) always providing an interesting topic along the way, but there was much more to come.
As they got older, we graduated from dinosaur stickers to dinosaur models. Comparisons were inevitable. Why did Tyrannosaurus have those silly short arms? What are arms for? What would it be like if we had short arms? What if is a great game to play with children and became our favorite whenever we made a trip in the car. What if you had dinosaur skin? What color was it? What if dinosaurs had skin like ours? What is skin anyway? What if people where 30 feet tall? Strangely the fascination with dinosaurs never died and we found that many of our hands on science activities were centred around dinosaur kits and models. I didn't realise at first, but the strangest thing about dinosaurs is that apart from their great size they're not so different from us. As school began this was more and more useful.
Human biology? Boring. Dinosaurs biology? That's something else. Dinosaur skulls are structured like ours, but look at the position of the eye sockets. Could they really only see you if you moved? And was that one type of dinosaur or all of them? We bought dinosaur kits and explored the skeleton. Human biology seemed to get covered as we went along. Some dinosaurs are thought to have had nearly 360 degree vision, to understand what that means you have to know about eyes, but also about degrees.
The study of dinosaur kits or models, plus comparison with our own bodies, can cover so many subjects which children normally view as boring or lame or which are not normally introduced until much later in the school curriculum. You can never be too young to be enthusiastic about science. The study of geology doesn't impinge much on the life of most children, but how do we know about dinosaurs? Fossils. You need to know how they are made, and if that means learning the difference between metamorphic and sedimentary, then that's fine. How did the dinosaurs die? Was it a meteor? What would that do exactly?
There's never been a better reason to talk about space, comets, asteroids and meteors, and if it wasn't a meteor, was it perhaps volcanic activity? To understand that you have to read about the great volcanic eruptions and why they occurred, and if that leads to a discussion about places, well that's good too. Dinosaurs skeletons have been found in some amazing places, from Antarctica to the Gobi Desert. Making a map which shows all these locations will tell you a lot about dinosaurs, but even more about geography. Could there really be a Jurassic Park and what is DNA anyway? Genetics is another branch of science the dinosaur enthusiast just has to explore. Age is not a barrier to these subjects, especially when there is an enthusiastic child around who wants to know more.
There is no end to the subjects you can explore when dinosaurs are your starting point, and there is no end to the capability of children when they get to study something they feel enthusiastic about.
Every major city has a museum and most museums have a dinosaur. If that's not an option, rent Jurassic Park and order a dinosaur model kit online or find one at your local hobby store. With a little patience and imagination you have found the key to an understanding and enthusiasm for science. This is something your child will treasure for the rest of his or her life.
