My first *real* blogging assignment–check out the new exhibit at DMNS!

(Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries, is open daily September 26 to January 4 at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science–no additional cost, included with general admission and free to members)

Okay, I am using the term “assignment” a bit loosely. The great moms over at Mile High Mamas asked for bloggers to review the new dinosaur exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. I pretty much did the web version of “Ooo! Oooo! Pick me! Pick me!” So, it’s more like I volunteered. BUT, I am going to call it my first blogging assignment. :) ‘Cause, that would make me a bona fide writer, so I’m keepin‘ it.

All that to say, I got to take Sunshine, one of her best friends, Philip and his mom with me to the sneak peek reception. (This means, I had to find something to wear that didn’t especially shriek “suburban mom”, so that was fun and exciting. Grr. )

We are members of the museum and go every few months. We have yet to see everything in it, and it is a fun, interesting place for the whole family (Well, most of the time. Click here for my blog about our family trip to the Titanic exhibit).

However, I am not especially into dinosaurs, so I approached the exhibition with a wary eye. I don’t know much about dinosaurs. (Did you know that there is no such thing as a brontosaurus? Okay, it hasn’t been called that since like 1975. It is now called an apatosaurus. I am so far behind…) But I find research interesting and I’m a geek so I figured it would be fun.

We got there and we enjoyed the snacks at the reception (the dry ice in the lava punch was especially a hit). After the kids had sampled everything (multiple times), we headed to the 3rd floor where the exhibit was.

A couple of thoughts:

1) I think it would be a good idea to see the regular dinosaur exhibit, Prehistoric Journey, before you see the new one. It makes the new discoveries and research that much more impressive.

2) This is not an under 4ish event, unless your kid is REALLY into dinosaurs. If you actually want to see the exhibit, be prepared to do the kid swap and take your little one down to the Discovery Zone or their favorite part of the museum. There is a section of the new exhibit (almost at the end) where little ones can do research “digging” like a geologist/palentologist, but I think anyone under 3 would just throw handfuls of the sand stuff around. At least Toddler would.

3) It was neato to see how much dinosaur research is happening in Colorado!

4) The new technology and research scientists are doing is totally cool and really mind-altering. Well, if you are as far behind on dino research as I am. I found most of the sections pretty interesting. A couple of my favs were the Liaoning Forest diorama–which was almost breathtaking it was so lifelike and beautiful. There is a section called Walk This Way that demonstrates how dinosaurs walked that was really cool (and, I am happy to say, evidence suggests that T. rex couldn’t actually chase people down very fast, as in Jurassic Park–phew!).

4) The kids liked “all of it!” when asked (so helpful for my review). They (both aged 9) watched all the short videos, and stopped at the stations where they could touch stuff. They spent quite a bit of time watching the computer simulations of how the dinosaurs might’ve become extinct. Digging at Dinosaur Gulch lasted about 10 minutes and they happily got their free cast of a fossil at the end of the exhibit.

All in all, a worthwhile experience for both dinosaur enthusiasts and not. Plan to take about 1-1.5 hours to complete the exhibit, not including the new IMAX movie Dinosaurs ALIVE (which was not available to review when we visited).

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