Dinosaurs are amazing extinct creatures that lived during the Mesozoic Era (from 252 to 66 million years ago). Their fossils have been found on every continent. Over their long history, many different species evolved in all different sizes and shapes.
Paleontology is the field of science that studies the history of life on Earth that is preserved in fossils in rocks. Sometimes paleontologists can find hard parts like teeth and bones, and other times, the only evidence left behind may be footprints, or impressions of a shell, leaf, or body. Some fossils that are hundreds of millions of years old look very much like organisms that are alive today, like horseshoe crabs, cockroaches, and ginkgo trees. Others, like fossilized dinosaurs, allow us to learn about creatures that became extinct long before there were any humans on Earth.
Learn how scientists revise their understandings of past life on Earth in light of new evidence in this read-aloud of the book, Boy, Were We Wrong About Dinosaurs (by Kathleen V. Kudlinski and S.D. Schindler, 2008) Watch Here
Learn how scientists at the American Museum of Natural History compare fossils with living organisms to interpret dinosaur appearance and behavior Watch Here
What are fossils? What does a paleontologist do? Watch Here
How do paleontologists know that T. rex had good eyesight and sense of smell? Watch Here
How do paleontologists use creature features to classify groups of dinosaurs? Watch Here
I Am a Paleontologist (by They Might Be Giants, Danny Weinkauf) Watch Here
Music Video Cartoons (by Howdytoons) Watch Here
Imagine a new kind of dinosaur and draw it:
Imagine you are a T. rex
Your arms are really short! You can’t pick up your food to bite it. You’ll have to stomp on your food with your feet and rip it with your big teeth.
Imagine you are a Triceratops
You have horns on your head! You can use those to protect yourself from being eaten by other dinosaurs.
Imagine you are an Apatosaurus
Your neck is SOOOO long! You can reach up high in the trees for nice, juicy, green leaves to eat.
Take a photo or video of you and your family doing some of the above activities and tag us on social media with the hashtag #ScienceAtHomeDSC
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We’ll share some of our favorites so that we can all learn from each other! Plus, check back on this page where we’ll highlight the submissions we receive so you can see what others are doing!
Here are just a few ideas for photos or videos you can share:
Walk among life-size, realistic, animatronic dinosaurs! Be sure to stay up-to-date on what’s coming next by signing up for our email newsletter.
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