3 cool books for teaching children about dinosaurs

Explorer Dinosaurs!
In the new hardcover dinosaur book Explorer Dinosaurs! in association with Natural History Museum (What on Earth? Publishing, £9.99) readers can follow Eric Eagle, a modern-day special agent who travels back to pre-historic times to explore dinosaurs. After a short introduction to Eric Eagle, the rest of Explorer Dinosaurs!–which we’ve received to review–is packed with dinosaur facts split into chapters about their lives, how they survived, their extinction and more. The book, designed for children aged 6 and over, answers questions about dinosaurs and features plenty of illustrations that children will enjoy. I think it is a great resource for children who like reading about dinosaurs, and the highlight is the colourful 1.8 metre pull-out dinosaur timeline!

Make and Move Mega: Dinosaurs
This isn’t really a book, but Make and Move Mega Dinosaurs by Sato Hisao (Laurence King, £12.98) is a gift set published by a book publisher, and it enables children to build 3D dinosaur models. The set features five press-out dinosaur puppets that children can slot together and play with. It makes for a different creative activity that requires no scissors or glue, but a bit of patience. We received a copy to review, and I think the set is good for dinosaur fans who are old enough to manage to make the models of the T-Rex, Triceratops, Apatosaurus, Stegosaurus and Pteranodon. I also think they would be popular for a show-and-tell or generally for talking more about what dinosaurs looked like.

What’s so Special about Dinosaurs?
Nicky Dee’s series of dinosaur books are designed to be a crossover between picture books and encyclopaedia-style reference titles, and we’ve previously bought one on Triceratops. The bright book features comparisons that children can relate to and it’s a nice resource to have at home for when the children are learning about dinosaurs in school. The books are also written in child-friendly language, making them good for young readers. In fact, for children who like dinosaurs I can see the books, which each focus on a different dinosaur, being great for encouraging independent reading. In addition to writing books, Nicky Dee visits schools and runs the What’s So Special About Dinosaurs Club, which is free to join online.