Dino Day 2012: The Kids Know Their Dinosaurs

Wow what a weekend!  Gary and I (Chris) had the pleasure of working not one but two separate dinosaur events over the past few days at the Morrison Museum and then the Newark Museum in New Jersey.  I love doing these events because it gives me a chance to check out exhibits from different museums as well as meet and connect with loads of people with the same interests as myself.

Serious Educators

 My absolute favorite part about doing these events, however, has to be talking to the countless kids that come over to our table eager to learn more about dinosaurs.  Its funny because they all remind me of myself when I was that age and their parents remind me of my parents.  Even though my mother and father are not dinosaur obsessed like I was, they ended up being well versed in the subject simply by reading me my favorite dinosaur books and playing dinosaur games with me when I was a little whipper-snapper myself. 

Me at three years old.  People used to mistake me for an Asian girl. 

Its amazing how much kids can learn if they are actually interested in a subject.  When I was little I couldn't read very well nor could I do math for my life but you better believe I could identify the differences between a Triceratops and a Chasmosaurus no problem!  This past weekend I met dozens of Children who could rattle off names like Quetzalcoatlus and Stygimoloch right off the tops of their heads.

I think a big part of kids knowing so much is thanks to great educational television shows that are popular now like Dinosaur Train and Dino Dan.  Many kids looked at my picture of Troodon and excitedly referred to it as "Mr. Conductor" for instance (If you have ever seen these shows you'll know what that means haha).