By Peter Mastrosimone, Editor-In-Chief July 18, 2024

dinosaurs rock instructor speaking to students with a Tarbosaur Dinosaur Skull and a Allosaurus Dinosaur Skull featured in front

Got kids who can’t get enough of dinosaurs? The Flushing Meadows-Corona Park Conservancy has got you covered this Saturday, when Dinosaurs Rock will roar into Triassic Playground with a presentation youngsters can really sink their teeth into.

The Dinosaurs Rock slogan is “We bring the museum to you!” and that’s just what will happen during a large portion of the three hours of prehistoric fun and education planned from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

There’ll be an interactive presentation on the late, great beasts that have fascinated people for generations, a fossil dig and small specimens for kids to take home — a fossilized shark tooth, spiral-shelled ammonite, piece of petrified wood or similar item.

But first they’ll get to see and touch such treasures as a fossilized dinosaur egg, a cast footprint and the skull cast of a feared predator. About 20 exhibit pieces will be shown.

“Somehow getting a genuine specimen in the hand of children can really spark a lifelong interest in the topic,” said Leslie Freund, who co-founded Dinosaurs Rock with her husband, Neil Brown, in 2000. “We’ve had kids who have attended one of our Dinosaurs Rock at age 7, and then at age 17 are headed off to palentology school in college.”

Whether their love of Tyrannosaurus Rex, Triceratops, Diplodocus and all the rest turns into a serious field of study or not, the kids love seeing what the Dinosaurs Rock team brings to the table. Their parents do, too.

“At a family event such as the one coming up, we make it interesting for both the parents and the kids,” Freund said, “and I think there are a lot of fossil and mineral fanatics even among adults out there.”

“It’s for the kids, but there’s a lot of adults who like dinosaurs, too,” agreed Jean Silva, president of the FMCP Conservancy. “And this organization I’ve hired, that’s been coming, Dinosaur Rocks, they’re just amazing.”

Freund said she and her team are just as excited to present to the kids as they were nearly 25 years ago when they started.

“There’s something really magical about watching the children watch our event because they typically are not seeing things in such an open, up-close manner,” Freund said. “Typically in a museum, the items are behind glass, and they are told, ‘Do not touch,’ whereas we are the opposite. When we can … we do as much of a hands-on approach as possible.”

The day also will include face painting.

Silva asks that people register for the event at tinyurl.com/5ft54ycd and to make a donation, of any amount, to the conservancy. That donation can be refunded upon arrival at the playground. The conservancy’s website needs updating, but anyone who has trouble registering or has questions is welcome to call Silva at (718) 544-7436.

Triassic Playground is on the east side of the park, at the southern end of Meadow Lake. There is some parking there, as well as at the boathouse a few minutes’ walk up the roadway, and at nearby Park Drive East in Kew Gardens Hills, Silva noted.

Dinosaurs lived 250 million to 66 million years ago. While the name means “terrible lizard,” today it is understood that their closest living descendants are birds — that birds in fact are “feathered therapod dinosaurs,” ones that survived the mass extinction that killed the rest and kept evolving.

As Silva noted, “Dinosaurs have never left us. Check out the skies.”

 

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