I love it, everywhere I looked it basically states that the T Rex is basically THE most FAMOUS dinosaur of all times!! And it is rather easy to see why – a HUGE carnivore (though not the biggest ever), this dinosaur was around at the end of the age of dinosaurs. With its distinctive and HUGE jaws and tiny almost humourous arms it is a very memorable predator. Made even MORE memorable by its key part on Jurassic Park! 

So it was more a case of sifting through sites to find good ones than the usual panicked hunting down of SOMETHING. The Natural History Museum had an amazing 3D rendering on their site HERE. Emanuel loved National Geographic’s little silhouette comparison of the Tyrannosaurus Rex and a school bus HERE. UCMP had a nice article HERE complete with a photo of a skeleton. Dinosaur About.com again had a great 10 fact list HERE. Kids Dig Dinos has a great drawing on its site of a T Rex along with a fun little question to answer HERE. National Geographic Kids has a little set of fact card  type things to look at and if you wish print HERE. Want a map and a timeline? Go to Kidsdinos.com and find it HERE. About.com (main site) has some links within their page to other like dinosaurs and articles of interest HERE. Of course there is EnchantedLearning and their page on the dinosaur HERE. Our colouring pages of choice can be found HERE. Don’t forget about Wiki and their rather dry but informative article HERE.

Of course we had our video time. Start with the multiple options on the Tyrannosaurus Rex on DSC discovery.com which included a TERRIFIC one on baby T Rexs HERE. And then there is our choice youTube video… enjoy!!!!

Added little something something for the dinosaur/T Rex lover in all of us is the short list of dinosaur related/themed books we collected from the library:

1. I am a Tyrannosaurus by Anna Grossnickle Hines
2. Dear Tyrannosaurus Rex by Lisa McClatchy
3. How the Dinosaur Got to the Museumby Jessie Hartland
   

   Fierce

This dinosaur was actually VERY timely for yours truly as apparently in one of it incarnations (the without feathers version) it was the inspiration for the famous Velociraptor on the movie Jurassic Park! (HERE) Which we watch the second half of the night before Emanuel covered the Deinonychus. This dinosaur, first found in 1964 walked on TWO legs and they figure worked in packs. It was definitely carnivorous and was lightly built and had long grasping claws (thus the name). And, amazingly enough – were alive during the… wait for it… Cretaceous period??? I know, Jurassic Park… but… well facts are facts! 

Our video was originally of a History channel show I think… and it shows, in rather great detail, a pack of these dinosaurs hunting. It is a little graphic though the kids were fine with it. 

What I found interesting is that it is because of THESE dinosaurs that Paleontolologists moved to consider dinosaurs as a possible link to birds (thus the feathers have been hypothesized). This carnivore seemed to be one of the most organized in its hunting techniques and actually used its limbs much more to fight, some sites have compared it to karate fighting with its long legs! Definitely NOT a friendly dinosaur! 

Now for our links… we had quite a few of course as there is LOTS of info out there! BUT here is what we narrowed it down to: Wiki has their fact heavy article HERE. We printed out THIS fact sheet from Dinosaurdays! EnchantedLearning comes through as usual (seriously I look forward to renewing this subscription come budget time) HERE. Emanuel especially liked the high kicking dinosaur picture HERE. And he was quick with the right answer on KidsDigDinos HERE. We chose the first of THESE colouring pages to colour (gotta love the feathers!). I loved the technique discussion on their fighting with the discovery link HERE. Emanuel loved the VERY birdlike look of the illustration on THIS site. There is a great illustration/chart on THIS site for size of the dinosaur (bigger than a human but smaller than an elephant!). And don’t forget a handy fact sheet HERE.

I am sure there are MANY more links about the Deinonychus dinosaur but we stopped at those links and video. I don’t think I will be showing Emanuel Jurassic Park quite yet… Oh and Emanuel’s favourite thing he learned about this dinosaur – that he fought using his claws and feet!!!! What a boy! 

With feathers and all

The boy has a talent… he always finds the most obscure dinosaurs! Although this time it was a surprise… he found THIS dinosaur in the dinosaur colouring book Gammie sent them. 

Ready to go to Gammie

Anyway links and video and the rest for our newest herbivore… The Xiaosaurus (pronounced show -saw –  rus) is found in China. Its name means small lizard and it definitely was! Weighing under 100lbs and eating only plants it is thought to run in large family groups. They traveled in forests to keep hidden from predators. This little wonder was alive during the Jurassic period. And now, for the links!!!

Let’s start with our picture that Emanuel took the time to colour… with markers as it printed dark…  you can find that HERE. Of course EnchantedLearning had a little blurb on this Chinese dino… you can find that HERE. Wiki’s page is rather technical so not much there for Emanuel but an older child… check that out HERE. About.com has a nice point form set up for their blurb HERE. I love the little visual comparison of a human and the dino that the dino dictionary had HERE. Emanuel really liked the dinopedia’s picture HERE. I love the map on the Ageof Dinosaurs site HERE. 

Very scenic

I did not find a specific video for this dinosaur BUT I did find a neat video of the Chinese Dinosaur museum. So please, check it out! And check back, the next dinosaur is a mom pick – Triceratops!