FOR PARENTS:
Many pre-school and early grade school children are fascinated by dinosaurs. I’m A Dinosaur provides these children a wide array of prehistoric animals to explore. In each animated episode, dozens of different dinosaurs introduce themselves and describe their traits and habits in language and pictures that young children can understand. I’m a Dinosaur provides viewers an interesting, engaging, and amusing introduction to the world of pre-historic creatures and offers a range of questions that parents can explore with their children.
- Watch the show with your child and talk about what you have seen.
- Take your child to a museum of natural history containing fossils or models of pre-historic animals.
- Most libraries contain numerous children’s books about dinosaurs; read and talk about them with your child.
- Since dinosaurs are extinct, talk with your child about the ways in which scientists might find out about different dinosaurs’ size, appearance, and habits. If we have never seen a live dinosaur, how can we know what they are like?
- Look for any kind of animal tracks in your yard or neighborhood and discuss with your child what such tracks imply about the animal that made them (e.g. size and weight).
- Many web sites feature dinosaurs; explore some of these sites with your child (e.g. The American Museum of Natural History).
- Have your child measure the length of some of the creatures presented in I’m a Dinosaur by “walking” their assumed length. Ask your child to consider the likely relationship between length and weight; between length and food intake; between length and agility.
