Dinosaurs Come To Life At Long Island Children's Museum

GARDEN CITY, NY — The Long Island Children's Museum has a new exhibit available, which promises to be a roaring good time for families. The Age of Dinosaurs exhibit is open now through May 29.

The exhibit features animatronic dinosaurs that look, move and sound like the real thing. As visitors step back into the Mesozoic era, they’ll view dinosaurs in their "natural" habitats, complete with scenic backgrounds, plants and ground cover as they:

• Hear two Protoceratops in Asia roar in joy while their eggs hatch.
• Stand beneath a ferocious Tyrannosaurus rex as it lowers its head to attack.
• Watch a long-necked Apatosaurus and long-frilled Chasmosaurus roaming North America with their young.
• Gaze up at a coastal Pteranodon soaring over a Stegosaurus looking for plants to eat.
• Witness dinosaur family ties interactions – from parental care and herds to predation.

“We’re excited to bring ‘Age of the Dinosaurs’ to LICM visitors,” says LICM Director of Education Aimee Terzulli. “Dinosaurs are fascinating teaching objects as children learn to compare and contrast size and shapes, consider concepts of time and build vocabulary as they learn complex names.”

In addition to the animatronics, the exhibit also has interactive components for children. It offers visitors the chance to operate an animatronic T. rex, discover fossils while digging through the sand and create their own fossil rubbings. In addition, exhibit guests can listen to different dinosaur sounds and take a photograph riding a Triceratops or inside the jaws of a T. rex.

There will also be special programming throughout the run of the exhibit to compliment the experience.

• Dining Dinos (Feb. 27 and March 27 from noon to 2 p.m.): create your own hungry dinosaur with a movable mandible.
• Jurassic Jars (Feb. 13 from noon to 2 p.m.): make a light-up jar with a prehistoric landscape, complete with some very special dinosaur friends.
• Fascinating Fossil (Feb. 20 from noon to 2 p.m.): mold a clay fossil impression.
• Over the Top Triceratops Puppet (Feb. 21-25 from noon to 2 p.m.): design your own hand puppet of this most recognizable dinosaur, complete with its unique frill and three horns.
• Ponder with a Paleontologist (Feb. 26 from noon to 2 p.m.): Meet paleontologist Dr. Mike D’Emic as he explains his job and why he made a career out of dinosaurs.
• Musical Dino Shakers (March 6 from noon-2 p.m.): Stomp on in to make a brightly colored musical brachiosaurus shaker to take home.
• Happy Hatchlings (March 13 from noon-2 p.m.): Come make a hatching baby dinosaur to take home.

All activities will be held at the Long Island Children’s Museum, located at 11 Davis Ave. in Garden City. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Museum admission is $15 for adults and children over 1 year old, $14 for seniors, free to museum members and children under 1 year old. Additional fees for theater and special programs may apply. For additional information, call 516-224-5800.