The Age of Giant Reptiles

The Yale Peabody Museum in New Haven has long been a place where kids felt they got their first feel for how big, varied and interesting dinosaurs actually were. In fact, the Peabody is home to one of the world’s top paleontology collections. Inside the Great Hall, you’ll see a juvenile Apatosaurus skeleton, a mesmerizing and world-famous 110-foot-long mural, “The Age of Reptiles,” painted by Rudolph Zallinger, and a fossil of the largest known turtle species, Archelon. Note: the Museum is under major renovations and will reopen in 2024.

The Real Deal

At Rocky Hill’s Dinosaur State Park, see 500 authentic sandstone dinosaur tracks (one of the largest collections of preserved Jurassic tracks on the continent), explore an arboretum filled with plants from families that flourished during the Age of Dinosaurs, and touch fossils in the Discovery Room. Then your kids can head to the museum’s casting area to make a trip souvenir – a plaster cast of a Eubrontes footprint. For details and tips about the casting process (a change of clothes is a good idea), check the website.

More Dinosaurs

At the Connecticut Science Center overlooking the Connecticut River in downtown Hartford you’ll find lavish displays in more than 150 permanent exhibits. Check out the soaring Pterosaur and hear the roar of the life-like animatronic Dilophosaurus. See a real fossil and find your own in the dig pit and then take a stroll to the Rooftop Garden to meet Julius the Apatosaurus in the children’s garden. The museum’s state-of-the-art theater may even be featuring a dinosaur-themed 3D movie.

Outdoors, In Season

You can also spend some time in Montville at The Dinosaur Place, an outdoor park with easy walking trails that lead past 25 life-size dinos crafted from concrete and steel. In Monty’s Playground (named for the massive T-Rex that towers over the parking lot), kids can climb on a 3-dimensional climbing web and an enormous (but not real) Pachyrhinosaurus skull. If it’s raining, or even if it’s not, head inside to Nature’s Art, an activity building where kids can dig for “fossils” in the Bone Zone, pan for gold and search for gems. Finally, Dino Expedition at Lake Compounce Theme Park in Bristol is a prehistoric-themed area featuring a fossil dig and pathways through a forest filled with more than a dozen lifelike dinosaurs.