Kids love dinosaurs. It’s one of those eternal truths. The elder Free-Ride offspring offers a list of nine cool things about dinosaurs and their ilk, while the younger Free-Ride offspring muses about the “meanness” of T. Rex. Plus, the best dinosaur handbook ever.
Cool dinosaur facts:
- They were reptiles.
- There were three different kinds of dinosaurs (archelon, psephoderma, and henodus) that were a lot like turtles.
- Some lived on land, some lived on water, but my favorite is the flying pteranodon.
- The nautilus swam in the ocean long ago and is still living today; they might have known dinosaurs.
- Some dinosaurs ate fish.
- Some dinosaurs (like hadrosaurus) ate twigs. Really, they ate twigs!
- One dinosaur (plateosaurus) ate mostly leaves but a small amount of meat.
- Early mammals came in the age of the dinosaurs. Some of them would be a small amount of meat.
- Not all dinosaurs were big. Some dinosaurs could be the size of your hand.
Younger offspring: Tyrannosaurus rex were mean dinosaurs.
Dr. Free-Ride: Why were they mean?
Younger offspring: ‘Cause they ate other dinosaurs.
Dr. Free-Ride: Well, but they were meat eaters.
Younger offspring: They were carnivores.
Dr. Free-Ride: Yeah. So, they had to eat something made of meat. Other dinosaurs were a pretty convenient choice. Does that make them mean?
Younger offspring: To the other dinosaurs that were they were eating it was mean.
Dr. Free-Ride: I guess it probably was.
Younger offspring: Maybe big Tyrannosaurus rex ate little Tyrannosaurus rex.
Dr. Free-Ride: Do you think that really happened?
Younger offspring: Yeah.
Dr. Free-Ride: That would be like me eating you.
Younger offspring: But you wouldn’t do that; you’re vegetarian.
Dr. Free-Ride: But if I were a Tyrannosaurus rex …
Younger offspring: You couldn’t eat me if you were a Tyrannosaurus rex.
Dr. Free-Ride: Why not?
Younger offspring: Because dinosaurs went extinct before there were any humans.
Dr. Free-Ride: You have a point.
The sprogs recommend: Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life by Hazel Richardson. Not only does it have loads of full-color illustrations of prehistoric animals, but it includes discussions of fossil evidence, cladistics, and all those early time periods parents get jumbled. This is a book that can start out as a picture book and grow into a real reference book. (Indeed, it is the first book in which the elder Free-Ride offspring discovered the use of the index.) The listings of the animals are organized in such a way that you can quickly locate information about when they lived, where they lived, what they ate, and how big they are.
The best dinosaur book ever is How to Keep Dinosaurs by Robert Mash (there’s a foreword by Richard Dawkins, but he didn’t write the jokes). It’s a completely deadpan guide to picking a pet dinosaur, in the manner of a dog breed guide.
I’d provide excerpts, but I don’t have it at work, and Steelypips.org has been having server problems, so I can’t link to Kate’s booklog entry. But it’s terrific fun.
You have the coolest kids.
I’ve put that book on my list — I’ll have to pick up a copy.
DK books are fantastic. You can never have too many DK books. We have at least 4 different DK books on oceans and sea-life (my 6 yr old’s favourite thing, even more than dinosaurs) and each one is excellent.
Alas, the DK mushroom guide seems to be somewhat tricky to track down. And there’s no pictures up at amazon. With birthday season coming up however, it might be worth it to look. Oh, and the guide to tasty tasty salmonoids too.
When I was in fourth grade I got into trouble for arguing with my teacher that dinosaurs weren’t reptiles. I’d read Dinosaur Heresies by Robert Bakker and was kind of excited about it. It has nice arguments and beautiful pictures.
I am very interested in finding a copy of the dinosaur songs that include Terry Pterodactyl, Bertha Brontosaurus, and Trini Triceratops…We had it when my children were small and now the grandkids are coming and my children are anxious to pass the songs along. Can you help me find a copy of this music? Thank you so much for your time. Reni
Did you find these songs? My son sang them as a toddler. I am now looking for them for his little three-year old boy.
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I too am looking for these songs. My older boys sang them in Kindergarten and my youngest is now in kindergarten and I can’t find them. I would love to share them with our new teacher.
You need to write a second book of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life. There are lots of dinosaurs out there. Love this book, Need more:)