Dinosaurs: Land of Fire and Ice™, created by Minnesota Children’s Museum and nationally sponsored by The David B. Jones Foundation, opens on January 27, 2018.
This will be the first child-centered exhibit in the country dedicated to expanding the understanding on dinosaur habitat and range. The exhibit will run at Long Island Children’s Museum through May 13, 2018.
Long Island is known for its white sand beaches, parks and vineyards. It’s hard to conceive that this same land was once a dinosaur swampland; home to woolly mammoths and iceberg lakes. Visitors to Long Island Children’s Museum will be able to make the connection between these two images of their region when they tour the latest exhibit to open at LICM. “There are few topics that excite and fascinate children as much as dinosaurs,” notes Aimee Terzulli, LICM Director of Education and Visitor Service. “This exhibit gives us the opportunity to fan children’s’ fascination to encourage them to use scientific thinking skills and promote an interest in natural history, geography and geology.”
Dinosaurs: Land of Fire and Ice ™ allows children and adults to explore dinosaur habitats to better understand how these mysterious animals lived and use their inquiry skills to examine what they left behind. The exhibit transports families back to the Cretaceous Period (145 – 65 million years ago), the time when dinosaurs last lived on Earth.
Children will go face-to-face with the prehistoric world and meet dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes. The exhibit, created for children ages 3 – 10, will feature two distinct environments and a variety of activities. A Field Research Station allows children to step into the role of paleontologist by uncovering fossils with brushes and creating drawings of the dinosaur environment using fossil rubbings and tracings.
The steamy “Land of Fire” connects visitors with prehistoric home of the Triceratops and T-Rex. Children can circle the land in insect costumes and buzz through a volcano with oozing lava. Then visitors can work through a swampy bog and identify an ecosystem of animals and plants. No coats are needed for a trip across the “Land of Ice” where visitors meet two dinosaurs, a Troodon and Edmontosaurus, who made their homes in the cold climate of Alaska. Activities include: climbing rocky steps, breezing down an icy slide, and hoping across stepping stones in an icy river.
Dinosaurs: Land of Fire and Ice utilizes new research about climates in which dinosaurs were able to survive and thrive. The discovery of numerous species of dinosaurs in the arctic is causing scientists to reconsider old theories about dinosaurs only living in tropical climates. It is now known that many dinosaurs, including Edmontosaurus and Troodon, lived in cold weather climates for at least part of the year.
Throughout the exhibit’s stay, LICM will offer a variety of public programs and performances to complement the exhibit experience. Upcoming performances and workshops include I Dig It! (January 27 & 28), Finding Fossils (February 3), and EGGcellent Dinosaurs (February 25). Additionally, the LICM Theater will host “More than Just Dinosaurs,” with YouTube star and author Dustin Growick, aka “The “Dinosaur Whisperer.” The dinosaur expert will present programming for school groups (February 6-9) and the public (February 10) as he answers questions about these fascinating creations.
About the Long Island Children’s Museum
The mission of the Long Island Children’s Museum is to connect all our communities’ children, and those who care for them, to a life of wonder, imagination and exploration. At LICM, children discover their passions and their relationship to the world we share. The 40,000-square-foot museum welcomes nearly 250,000 children and adults annually. The private, not-for-profit institution chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, offers museum-based educational programs and cultural experiences, as well as an extensive community outreach program offered in schools, libraries and youth centers across Long Island. The Museum is the recipient of the 2012 National Medal for Museum & Library Service, the highest honor conferred on museums for extraordinary civic, educational, economic, environmental, and social contributions.
Museum Hours:
Open Tuesday – Sunday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. during the school year. Open select Mondays during school holidays. Open daily, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. July and August. Closed during Fall Fix-Up, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Day, Memorial Day and Independence Day.
Located at:
11 Davis Avenue Garden City, NY 11530 They are located on Charles Lindbergh Blvd. on Museum Row with free parking.
***Momee Tip: If you are planning on spending the whole day at the museum pack a lunch and some snacks. There is a cafeteria area where you can sit and eat but, there is only vending machines. Make the most of your visit by bringing your own food and some money for the vending machines, if you like.
