Science Museum Adventure
Wing guide5 min readMade for young kids and adults
The Dinosaur Wing

Dinosaur Facts for Kids

Step into the Dino Hall and meet five amazing animals from millions of years ago. Then learn how scientists uncover their secrets from teeth, eggs, feathers and footprints.

The Dino Hall of a science museum, with a golden T. rex skeleton and a Triceratops exhibit window.
230–66 millionyears ago
Every continenteven Antarctica
Still here!birds are dinosaurs

What is a dinosaur?

Dinosaurs were a group of reptiles that first appeared about 230 million years ago. Unlike lizards, which sprawl their legs out to the side, dinosaurs stood with their legs tucked straight underneath their bodies, like pillars. Some were as small as a chicken, and some were the biggest animals ever to walk on land.

Most dinosaurs died out 66 million years ago, when a giant asteroid hit Earth. But not all of them: one group of small feathered dinosaurs survived, and their descendants are the birds we see every day.

Meet the five exhibits

The Dinosaur Wing of the museum has five rooms. Tap an animal to explore its room.

When did they live?

The age of dinosaurs lasted more than 160 million years. Our five animals didn’t all live at once!

  1. 1

    230 myaThe first dinosaurs

    Small, quick dinosaurs appear in the Triassic period.

  2. 2

    154–150 myaBrachiosaurus

    Giant sauropods browse the treetops in the Late Jurassic.

  3. 3

    86–84 myaPteranodon

    Flying reptiles soar over a sea in the middle of North America.

  4. 4

    75–71 myaVelociraptor

    Feathered raptors run across the dunes of Mongolia.

  5. 5

    68–66 myaT. rex and Triceratops

    Two of the last giants share the same forests and plains.

  6. 6

    66 myaThe asteroid

    A huge space rock hits Earth, and most dinosaurs die out. Birds survive.

How do we know?

Scientists called paleontologists work like detectives. Here are four of their best clues.

The Dino Hall in Science Museum Adventure, with a T. rex skeleton and exhibit windows.
In the gameThe Dino Hall. Each window opens into one animal’s world, and each room hides the fossil the next room needs.

Dino-mite Facts

  • All dinosaurs hatched from eggs.

    Even the biggest sauropods laid eggs only about the size of an ostrich egg. Find out why in dinosaur eggs.

  • T. rex lived closer in time to us than to Brachiosaurus.

    About 80 million years separate Brachiosaurus and T. rex. Only 66 million years separate T. rex from today.

  • Dinosaurs lived in Antarctica too.

    Back then Antarctica had forests and a milder climate, and dinosaur fossils have been found there.

  • Flying and swimming reptiles weren’t dinosaurs.

    Pterosaurs like Pteranodon, and sea reptiles like plesiosaurs, lived at the same time but belonged to different groups.

  • New dinosaurs are discovered all the time.

    Scientists name dozens of new kinds of dinosaur every year, so there is plenty left to find.

Science words to know

Dinosaur
A group of reptiles that stood with their legs straight under their bodies. Birds are dinosaurs too.
Fossil
The remains or traces of ancient life, preserved in rock.
Paleontologist
A scientist who studies fossils.
Extinct
When a kind of living thing has died out completely.

Quick quiz!

0 / 3

  1. 1. Which of these is NOT a dinosaur?

  2. 2. What happened 66 million years ago?

  3. 3. Which animals alive today are dinosaurs?

Questions kids ask

When did dinosaurs live?

From about 230 million years ago until 66 million years ago, across the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

What killed the dinosaurs?

A giant asteroid hit Earth about 66 million years ago, near what is now Mexico. It changed the climate so much that most dinosaurs died out, though birds survived.

What was the biggest dinosaur?

The biggest were long-necked sauropods, relatives of Brachiosaurus. The longest were about as long as three school buses.

Are there still dinosaurs alive today?

Yes: birds! They evolved from small feathered dinosaurs. Read more in did dinosaurs have feathers.

How do we know what dinosaurs looked like?

From fossil bones, skin impressions, feathers, eggs and footprints, and by comparing them with animals alive today.

Brachio Run, one of five mini-games in the Dinosaur Wing.
🎮 Play it in the app

The Dinosaur Wing

Five illustrated rooms, five mini-games and a Field Guide full of fossils. Find the missing teeth, feathers and eggs, and put every exhibit right.

✔ The whole Dinosaur Wing is free to play

Coming soon to the App Store

No ads, ever · Plays offline · Made for young kids and adults

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