Trends come and trends go but kids around the world just can’t get enough of dinosaurs! If you have a little someone in your house who knows the names of dozens, if not hundreds of dinosaurs… T-Rex, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Dimetrodon even the awesome Parasaurolophus, then it’s likely you have a dino-maniac on your hands!
Curious kids want to know everything about dinosaurs — where they lived, how they moved, what they ate and why they disappeared. To encourage their interests
(and enjoy a great family day out), we’ve curated an Australia-wide collection of the best places to get up close and personal with skeletons, fossils and models of these prehistoric giants — covering local museums, zoos and even dino dig sites too!
- Melbourne Museum - Triceratops
Come face to face with one of the most awe-inspiring creatures ever to walk the Earth—the Triceratops. Triceratops: Fate of the Dinosaurs is an immersive voyage into a lost world, where visitors will explore the landscapes of the Cretaceous and get to know the creatures that thrived there. Here you will meet Horridus - one of the most complete Triceratops fossils ever found (like anywhere - on earth - ever!!)
Website: https://museumsvictoria.com.au/melbournemuseum/whats-on/triceratops-fate-of-the-dinosaurs/
There's also a fabulous Dinosaur Walk as part of the permanent museum collection that includes skeletons of 17 prehistoric animals.
Website: https://museumsvictoria.com.au/melbournemuseum/resources/dinosaur-walk/
- The Australian Museum - Dinosaurs (Sydney)
Discover the amazing world of dinosaurs in this permanent exhibition that brings the Mesozoic era to life.
Whether you’re kid’s a palaeontologist in the making or just a fan of Jurassic Park, they’ll be fascinated by this prehistoric world, walking amongst real dinosaur skeletons and life-size models, as well as exploring fossil teeth, skulls and claws of these ancient giants.
Learn about the Muttaburrasaurus, that once roamed Australia. Be amazed by the skull of a Centrosaurus, and compare the bird-like features of the Bambiraptor to the only dinosaurs still living today, modern birds. The interactive sensory displays allow kids to smell the Mesozoic world, make dinosaur calls and even see the world from a dinosaur's perspective.
And don’t miss the world’s first anatomically correct model of a T-Rex – a dissected 11-metre long replica created for the documentary, T-Rex Autopsy, donated to the Australian Museum by National Geographic.
Website: https://australian.museum/exhibition/dinosaurs/
And for the smallest dino fans don’t miss The Australian Museum’s brand new Prehistoric Playground — a creative place for kids of all ages. Drop in any time between 10am and 4.30pm and get hands-on as you investigate what fossils can tell us about our world, why birds are modern-day dinosaurs and how different dinosaurs evolved their extraordinary characteristics.
Website: https://australian.museum/event/prehistoric-playground/
- The National Dinosaur Museum (Canberra)
Established in 1993, the museum has grown to house the biggest permanent display of interactive dinosaurs and other prehistoric fossil material in Australia. Offering an interactive insight into the earth’s long and dynamic history and housing life-like dinosaur models, full skeletons, skulls, and robotic dinosaurs, the museum focusses on education and entertainment. From guided torchlight tours at night to birthday parties for kids, there is something for all the dinosaur fans in your life!
Website: https://nationaldinosaurmuseum.com.au/
- Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum - (Winton, Qld)
The Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum is home to the largest collection of Australian dinosaur fossils in the world. A working dinosaur museum with the busiest Fossil Preparation Lab in the southern hemisphere, it’s located on 1800 hectares of land in central west Queensland.
At the museum you’ll see and hear about unique Australian dinosaurs that lived 100 million years ago, including gigantic sauropods and ‘Banjo’, Australia’s greatest carnivorous dinosaur. In 2017 the Museum introduced Dinosaur Canyon — a new attraction consisting of five outdoor galleries featuring life-sized bronze dinosaurs. The Museum is split across three facilities, the Fossil Preparation Laboratory, Collection Room and Dinosaur Canyon. Guided tours are conducted hourly.
Website: https://www.australianageofdinosaurs.com/
- Naracoorte Caves Megafauna Fossil Site (Naracoorte, SA)
Strictly speaking, the fossils in these extraordinary World Heritage listed caves in South Australia aren’t actually dinosaurs, given they are only 500,000 years old. But they do feature some of Australia’s iconic megafauna including the Marsupial Lion, giant kangaroos, monster lizards and a five-meter long snake.
Over more than half a million years animals have fallen into the caves, leaving a preserved fossil record spanning several ice ages, the arrival of humans in the area and the extinction of Australia’s unique Megafauna.
Mini palaeontologists can join a guided Fossil Cave tour to learn how the fossils were formed, found and excavated. You can also visit the Wonambi Fossil Centre, which recreates the ancient rainforest that covered the area 200,000 years ago and displays a collection of amazing extinct giant creatures.
And don’t miss the awesome Fossil Hunters Playground which connects kids to local Aboriginal history and megafauna through features like caverns, tunnels, dig pits, fossils and the giant Wonambi Rainbow Snake.
Website: https://www.naracoortecaves.sa.gov.au/Home
- Tasmania Zoo - Jurassic Swamp
Tasmania Zoo’s ‘Jurassic Swamp’ is home to over 40 life-size dinosaurs, which can be seen up close in an amazing ‘super-sized’ experience. Release your inner palaeontologist and step back in time to the Jurassic Era. You’ll come face to face with a triceratops, stegosaurus, brachiosaurus, apatosaurus (brontosaurus), dimetrodon, allosaurus, velociraptor, the tiny iguanodon and the mighty tyrannosaurus rex!
The jurassic swamp walk provides educational signs promoting conservation messages and the similarities between the extinction of the dinosaurs and other species of recent times, such as the Tasmanian tiger, and the plight of our current-day threatened species.
Website: https://www.tasmaniazoo.com.au/jurassic-swamp
- Dinosaur Coast, Broome WA
130 million years ago during the Cretaceous period, dinosaurs roamed the North West Kimberley coast of Western Australia, criss-crossing a muddy river delta. All that remains today is an amazing collection of thousands of fossilised dinosaur footprints.
The tracks of up to seven different dinosaur species, including sauropods, ornithopods and stegosaurus have been identified, meaning the Dinosaur Coast has more different types of fossilised dinosaur tracks than anywhere else in the world, including the world’s biggest dino footprint at 1.7m long. The foot prints also have strong cultural connections with the indigenous people of the area, tracing the journeys of their ancestors.
Footprints can be seen at low tide. Site locations and tips on how to find them can be found on website below.
Website - https://www.dinosaurcoast.org.au/
And if all that adventuring is not enough, bring the fun home with a selection of Crocodile Creek’s huge range of Dinosaur themed puzzles including:
- Mini Puzzles - Just Hatched
- Classic Floor Puzzle - Dinosaur
- Day at the Museum Puzzle - Dinosaur
- Above + Below - Dinosaur World
- Holographic Foil Puzzle - Dazzling Dinos
- Thirty-six Animals - Dinosaurs
- Family Puzzle - Dino World
- World of Animals - World of Dinosaurs
- Playground Balls - Dinosaurs Green and Red