Dinosaurs for Kids | Learn about Dinosaur History, Fossils, Dinosaur Extinction and more!

Clarendon Learning explores the world of dinosaurs!

Where were you when Dinosaurs roamed the earth?

I don’t think you were around when Dinosaurs were on the earth.

Your parents weren’t alive during the time of the Dinosaurs,

in fact, there weren’t any people at all when these giant creatures lived on the earth!

and that's probably a good thing.

Dinosaurs lived on the earth millions of years ago...HUNDREDS of million years ago.

Dinosaurs have captured our imagination ever since Sir Richard Owen a paleontologist

unearthed the fossilized bones of a large creature and didn’t have a name for it;

so,

he named it for the Greek word meaning "Terrible Lizard" the word is...

DINOSAUR!

And although Dinosaurs were not lizards...they WERE reptiles,

I think Dinosaur is a great name for these creatures that lived so long ago!

Since then thousands and thousands of Dinosaur fossils have been dug up

all over the world...and since then, thousands of stories have been told about Dinosaurs.

many stories come from imagination; stories like...Journey to the Center of the Earth

and The Land Before Time!

and Jurassic Park!

And of course, there are the toys! All kinds of Dino toys to spark your interest and imagination!

We must use our imagination because there are no living Dinosaurs on the earth today.

But, we DO have Dinosaur bones, and we DO have Paleontologists!

What’s a Paleontologist?

Paleontologists are scientists who dig up and study dinosaur bones called fossils.

Millions of years ago when Dinosaurs walked about, maybe they would die in deep mud

or in a swamp or maybe sand or in a river

and if the Dinosaur was covered up quickly it would be preserved down in the earth.

through the millions of years all the soft parts of the Dinosaur would dissolve away

leaving the skeleton and all the bones would be filled with minerals making the