Colorado Dinosaur Information for Kids

Many, if not most, children go through a “dinosaur phase” where they can’t learn enough about the giant prehistoric creatures.  But I had to smile at the story in Friday’s Denver Post about a 9-year-old boy who is so interested in dinosaurs that he applied for the job of chief curator at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science!  He didn’t get the job, of course, but the museum rewarded him with the title of Honorary Curator for a Day. 

If you have a budding paleontologist at home, our library has several publications of interest from the Colorado Geological Survey that are great for all ages.  Dinousaurs in Our Backyard is an interactive CD-rom that will teach kids (and kids at heart) about the fossils of Dinosaur Ridge, located right outside of Denver and a great place to take youngsters on a field trip.  Additionally, the little ones will enjoy Darin and Denise Discover Denver’s Dinosaurs and Other Denizens of Deep Time, written especially for kids.  And if your miniature scientists are begging to visit other dinosaur sites, Dinosaur Remains in Colorado from the Colorado Office of Archaeology and Preservation can give you some ideas for where to go.  Also, the CGS’s special publication 35, Colorado’s Dinosaurs, provides maps to fossil sites along with other information on our state’s prehistoric creatures.