Meeting Dr. Scott and Learning Dinosaur Train Secrets

On Sunday we drove into NYC to visit the World Science Festival Street Fair for a screening of the PBS children's series The Dinosaur Train, as well as a booksigning and discussion with Dr. Scott Sampson (aka Dr. Scott to many 2-6 year old kids!). L'il Boo was so excited! On our drive in, he was all "I'm going to meet my first paleontologist!" Which made me giggle hearing that in his little four-year old voice.

Most of the audience was families with kids around Li'l Boo's age, and Dr. Scott was clearly impressed, but not surprised, to be talking with kids using such big words. I think about every preschooler or early elementary kid in the audience could name Triassic, Jurassic and Cretacious when asked, and knew the difference between herbavores, carnivores and omnivores. Li'l Boo answered a warm-up question saying his favorite dinosaur was the Velociraptor. I was shocked that he didn't say the T-Rex. Perhaps he's maturing beyond the T-Rex? I mean, he has a book listing over 100 dinosaurs . . .about time he became interested in one of the others ;-)

Here's Li'l Boo asking Dr. Scott questions when he was signing his book, Dinosaur Odyssey. Li'l Boo wanted to know what dinosaurs lived in New York, and how to pronounce parasaurolophus 
 

We saw a screening of the "Confuciusornis Says" episode and Dr. Scott led a Q&A where we learned a few interesting things about dinosaurs:

• Remember the movie Jurassic Park? Well, velociraptors were shown as being about six feet tall in the movie, but scientists have learned that they were actually about three feet tall. Oh, and after Jurassic Park came out, raptor fossils were found in China showing they were feathered. So when working on the sequel movie, producers decided to keep the velociraptor the same as in the first eventhough they knew it was no longer accurate.
• There is no set dinosaur naming formula - the discovering scientists can name it whatever they want  . . . though it's not accepted practice to name the dinosaur after oneself.
• The only direct dinosaur descendants on earth today are birds (most of the kids in the audience including Li'l Boo knew this! :-o). Dr. Scott said he believes in the "Goldilocks theory" that dinosaurs were neither too hot or cold blooded, but somewhere in the middle ("just right'). He said that this was mostly because of the dinosaur's metabolism rates, that mammals can't achieve the sizes of the dinosaurs because our metabolism won't allow for it. (We eat everal times a day, and cap out at human sizes, while some dinosaurs ate every few days yet maintained their weight of several tons.)
• If anyone ever asks what a dinosaur tastes like you can tell 'em chicken. If velociraptors were three feet high and feathered, they likely looked like chickens too!
• Dr. Scott reinforced his message during his segment of the Dinosaur Train show urging kids to get outside and explore, saying how can this next generation work to save species and the planet, if they don't know and care about it? He said kids today spend 90% less time outdoors than my generation, so get them outside.

We couldn't miss photo opps with Buddy the dinosaur outside at the street festival, and we were thrilled to see Sid the Science Kid there too! High two Buddy!

   

 

We found out about Dr. Scott's appearance through the PBS THIRTEEN's Kids Club Facebook page, so be sure to friend @KidsClub13 for information on future PBS family events!

Comments

[Leticia- Tech Savvy Mama]

We love Dinosaur Train and Dr. Scott and had the good fortune of meeting him (and Buddy!) last fall at the Museum of Natural History in DC. It is so great to know he had a book out and we will be adding it to our summer reading list!