4yr old and his dino obsession

The Royal Scam

My 4 year old has an insatiable need to learn and talk about Dinosaurs. Is there anywhere in Ireland that will blow his mind?
I'd say the walking with Dinosaurs in Sept show will probably do it anyway

Galvasean

That show does look epic. I'd say it will blow the minds of most adults too. We don't have much in terms of dinosaur places to visit here in Ireland. In fact, there even seems to be very little in the way of dinosaur toys to buy these days (another Jurassic Park film oughta fix that!).
You should pick up the original Land Before Time film on DVD. I had that on video as a little nipper and wore the tape out!

Adam Khor

I already saw the Walking with Dinosaurs show! And even though I'm no longer a little kid, I felt just like one, it is THAT awesome! XD So take your kid, he'll be in heaven!

Mickeroo

Galvasean wrote: »

That show does look epic. I'd say it will blow the minds of most adults too. We don't have much in terms of dinosaur places to visit here in Ireland. In fact, there even seems to be very little in the way of dinosaur toys to buy these days (another Jurassic Park film oughta fix that!).
You should pick up the original Land Before Time film on DVD. I had that on video as a little nipper and wore the tape out!

I referred to T-Rex only as "Sharp-Tooth" for a large portion of my childhood.

Adam Khor

Mickeroo wrote: »

I referred to T-Rex only as "Sharp-Tooth" for a large portion of my childhood.

I know most of the kids my age called sauropods "longnecks"... and most of them still do XD

Galvasean

'Longneck' is a great term, it applies to both dinosaurs and beer....
Microbrewery anyone?

Galvasean

Nothing beats a good dinosaur encyclopedia. Sure a 4 year old might not be totally up to that reading level, but personally as a youngster I had an insatiable appetite to learn to read so that in time I could read and understand my dinosaur books by myself (in the mean time, the pictures kept me entertained). So in essence, by stocking the kids room with books a bit beyond their reading level you are accelerating their education.

A few good ones:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/World-Encyclopedia-Dinosaurs-Prehistoric-Creatures/dp/075481730X/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344519070&sr=1-3

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dinosaurs-Complete-Up-Date-Encyclopedia/dp/0375824197/ref=pd_sim_b_1

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Planet-Dinosaur-Generation-Killers-Natural/dp/1849900930/ref=pd_sim_b_9

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Prehistoric-DK/dp/1405337044/ref=pd_sim_b_8

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Encyclopedia-Dinosaurs-Prehistoric-David-Lambert/dp/0751309559/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344519383&sr=1-4

The Royal Scam

Galvasean wrote: »

Nothing beats a good dinosaur encyclopedia. Sure a 4 year old might not be totally up to that reading level, but personally as a youngster I had an insatiable appetite to learn to read so that in time I could read and understand my dinosaur books by myself (in the mean time, the pictures kept me entertained). So in essence, by stocking the kids room with books a bit beyond their reading level you are accelerating their education.

A few good ones:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/World-Encyclopedia-Dinosaurs-Prehistoric-Creatures/dp/075481730X/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344519070&sr=1-3

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dinosaurs-Complete-Up-Date-Encyclopedia/dp/0375824197/ref=pd_sim_b_1

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Planet-Dinosaur-Generation-Killers-Natural/dp/1849900930/ref=pd_sim_b_9

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Prehistoric-DK/dp/1405337044/ref=pd_sim_b_8

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Encyclopedia-Dinosaurs-Prehistoric-David-Lambert/dp/0751309559/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344519383&sr=1-4[/QUOTE

Thanks a million to everyone for your suggestions etc.

I have 15 episodes of the Land Before time , he already has about 10 Dinosaur books and honestly , he has about 40 dinosaur toys. When I was his age I had about 10 Matchbox cars and some other crap. I'd love to be his age and play with him without people looking at me funny

Adam Khor

The Royal Scam wrote: »

Thanks a million to everyone for your suggestions etc.

I have 15 episodes of the Land Before time , he already has about 10 Dinosaur books and honestly , he has about 40 dinosaur toys. When I was his age I had about 10 Matchbox cars and some other crap. I'd love to be his age and play with him without people looking at me funny

Hey, hey, don´t let that stop you from playing with your kid! Some of my fondest memories are of my father playing with me with the dinosaur toys (funnily enough, when I played alone with my dinos I would make them attack toy car parking lots and malls, but when I was with my dad we would go all academic and separate the dinos in groups depending on their classification- theropoda, ornithopoda, etc. And I enjoyed it just the same :pac:)

Owryan

My 4 & 2 yo's are dino crazy too, have you checked out Dinosaur Train ? Its an educational cartoon that looks a bit childish but i ve noticed that my kids are using it as a guide when playing with their own toy dinosaurs .

They also love the Jurassic Park films and the BBC series "planet dinosaur"

Galvasean

I haven't watched Dinosaur Train myself, but the Dinosaur Tracking Guy waxes lyrical about it a lot and he's a hard one to please. I've even heard the show had a Todd Marshall inspired Spinosaurus in it at one point.

I would have thought Planet dinosaur would have been a bit techy for young kids. Maybe pick up the Walking With... DVDs. It's also by the BBC. The science is a little outdated but it focuses more on story than Planet Dinosaur does so the kids are bound to love it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgYYFNZawEs

If that trailer doesn't whet the appetite.

Owryan

Dont know about techy but it has dinosaurs fighting and they love that lol

They watch the walking with dinosaurs too but prefer "planet"

meoklmrk91

The dinocafe in castletownroache near mallow in Co. Cork.

I haven't ever been myself but have always wanted to go as it looks really cool when you pass.

Galvasean

Never heard of that place. Must put it on my 'to do' list.

The Royal Scam

meoklmrk91 wrote: »

The dinocafe in castletownroache near mallow in Co. Cork.

I haven't ever been myself but have always wanted to go as it looks really cool when you pass.

Oh my god that is perfect, that will do nicely on my trip down to Kerry from Carlow in 2 weeks, absolutely perfect. And on the Planet Dino on the BBC , little Freddie had all of these on SKY+ and to be honest never ever watched anything else. He absorbed most of the information contained and I think it was Planet Dinosaur that really nurtured his love for them

meoklmrk91

The Royal Scam wrote: »

Oh my god that is perfect, that will do nicely on my trip down to Kerry from Carlow in 2 weeks, absolutely perfect. And on the Planet Dino on the BBC , little Freddie had all of these on SKY+ and to be honest never ever watched anything else. He absorbed most of the information contained and I think it was Planet Dinosaur that really nurtured his love for them

Glad to help out, I am not even a parent just a student who goes to college in the region and a college buddy of mine lives near by so I have passed through a few times, it doesn't seem very well publicised at all, especially seeing as castletownroache is such a small place, you would literally have to drive through the village know that it exists.

The Royal Scam

I have called and emailed the Dinocafe but no reply unfortunately.
So I went on to Amazon and bought him Planet Dinosaur for $12. I counted his dinosaur figure collection the other day. 36 in total

Undergod

Actual the thought of getting to play with dinosaur toys with my kid kinda makes me want to HAVE kids.

BostonB

Mine are obsessed. Still it make getting presents simple for a few years. Their knowledge is encyclopaedic about them. They love those cheap ones you get in a tub for a few euro. Those keep them occupied for hours.

DaireQuinlan

My 4 year old loves his Usborne Big book of dinosaurs:
http://www.amazon.com/Usborne-Big-Book-Dinosaurs/dp/0794527701/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345559473&sr=1-4&keywords=usborne+dinosaur+book

Not too big or too many pages but the illustrations are great.

And this is seriously one of the finest popup books ever. Multiple fold outs on each of the pages. And the t-rex popup on the last few pages is scary enough that my 2 year old won't go near the book :-)
http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Prehistorica-Dinosaurs-Definitive-Pop-Up/dp/0763622281

Galvasean

Just wait until the next Jurassic Park film comes out. There'll be so much dino swag cluttering your houses you won't know what happened!