How Were You Introduced To Dinosaurs?

[no longer available]

I don't exactly remember the exact reason why I started went through my first dinosaur phase as a tot, but I think it was a combination of books like The Audobon Society's Familiar Dinosaurs (Published in 1993) and Dorling Kindersley's Visual Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs (Published in 2005), documentaries/cartoons/movies (ESPECIALLY Walking with Dinosaurs and its spinoffs, The Land Before Time, and Jurassic Park!), and toys, which were typically chinasaurs.  However, I eventually lost interest in the ancient creatures and decided to move on, and I only remembered them whenever anybody talked about them.  However, some time last year, my Biology teacher brought up dinosaurs as an example for a lesson in evolution, which made me remember how fascinated I was with them, and not long after, my obsession with dinosaurs was rekindled, thus my second dino phase began, and it continues to this day. 

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I think my mom or grandmother initiated it..then all the relatives pretty much kept buying them for me...sounds like plot or something..lol

[LophoLeeVT]

well....... that is a mystery in our family though i am soo obsessed with dinosaurus nobody knows

[tyrantqueen]

I'd always had a casual on and off interest throughout my childhood. I don't remember what started it first. My earliest memory is borrowing dinosaur books from the local library and creating dinosaur models out of cardboard.

[triceratops83]

I can't remember a time when I wasn't fascinated by dinosaurs, but I think the prehistoric denizens of Skull Island in King Kong might have had something to do with it.

[ceratopsian]

I visited the public library a lot from being small.  I believe that I simply came across a book on dinosaurs and was instantly fascinated - I must have been around 7 or 8.  My parents didn't oblige much in the way of supplying me with dinosaur toys  - but my dad bought me three models one Christmas (Airfix maybe??) that he assembled and lovingly painted.  I sort of secretly hope they'll turn up stored in their loft but I'm really pretty certain that they will have been sent to a jumble sale many years ago.  (Which my mother did to my Champion the Wonder Horse Annual without asking me first when I was a child - I've never forgiven her.  So she has form!)  My parents bought me a big encyclopaedia on prehistory - can't remember what it was called, it's a very long time ago! - but it had fabulous fold-out diorama illustrations.  I loved it and read it constantly.  From first falling in love the affair continued off and on without ever fully going away.

[Newt]

This:



In kindergarten we had a project where each kid was supposed to come in dressed for their desired career and talk about it to the class. There were lots of firemen, nurses, and cops (what is it with kids and emergency response, anyways?), but I was the only paleontologist. My mom made me a big papier-mache bone for a prop.

[gursar]

When I was a kid there was a science magazine we used to buy every month. I didn't know how to read but I enjoy looking at the pictures in it. There were only a couple of colored pages in every issue, because back in those days colored prints were very rare in my country. In an issue, the magazine published some illustrations by Zdeněk Burian in those colored pages. I was deeply impressed. I still cannot explain why.

[Gwangi]

"The Land Before Time" was released in 1988 and I remember going to see it so my theory is that seeing "The Land Before Time" at such a young age had something to do with my obsession, I would have been four years old at the time. Of course it was a movie I watched and re-watched growing up (still, proudly, I haven't seen a single sequel). I also remember watching old dinosaur movies with my father at around the same age, in particular "Planet of Dinosaurs".

Either way, by the time "Jurassic Park" came out in 1993 I was nine years old, and already a dinosaur fanatic. Being a nine year old already obsessed with dinosaurs at the height of "Jurassic Fever" and "Dino-mania" was truly a gift. I had tons of books that helped fuel the fire. "Dinosaurs of the Land, Sea, and Air" and "The Big Golden Book of Dinosaurs" immediately come to mind. Dinosaurs were big on television when I was kid too; "Dino-Riders", "DinoSaucers", "Denver the Last Dinosaur", "Dinosaurs and Cadillacs", and even the ABC sitcom "Dinosaurs" were all shows that I watched. The Christopher Reeves hosted "Dinosaur" documentary was also a big deal for me growing up. So basically, I was a young boy in the late 80's and early 90's. I'm a product of my environment.

[suspsy]

My story is told in my reviewer bio:

http://dinotoyblog.com/about-the-authors/suspsy/

[Megalosaurus]

This guy started it all:



Gracias querido Ignominiosaurio!!!

[ITdactyl]

My parents bought me 3 chinasaurs (a yellow brontosaur, a brown rex and a green stego) + the transformers episode "Dinobot Island" + an old nature documentary with David Attenborough.  All 3 started a flame that's been burning for 3 decades.

[DinoG]

I always liked animals in general. When I was around 4 I was perusing through an animal book and here it is a single page with the illustrations of few dinosaurs ...that's when it started! According to my mum I didn't let go of that page for days; I have strong memories of this episode although I can't tell if they are original or a reconstruction created over the years by my mother's recounting of the story.
By the way Megalosaurus that vintage Trex is a real time machine for me....I found it in a bag my father bought me also containing a pterosaur, a brontosaurus, and a stegosaurus a very long time ago....

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

We learned about dinosaurs in second grade and I was pretty much hooked right away. I remember one assignment was to make a shoebox diorama. My first figures were the WS utahraptor, triceratops (the gray and green one), brachiosaurus and pteranodon. But after that I accumulated more, and continued my interest in dinosaurs beyond the classroom.
The interesting part is that the dinosaur curriculum was replaced with something else the following year. IMO it should be taught, but it makes me wonder if I would be into this hobby at all if I never had that class. I would imagine I would be since I was interested in animals before that.

[MLMjp]

My parents took me to the cinema when I was three years old. We watched Disney´s Dinosaur. And since then dinosaurs have been in my brain my entire life.

[Takama]

I cant remember.

I recall haveing Imperial Dinosaur toys before i was in preschool. but the first time i heard the word dinosaur remains a mystery.

[Kovu]

I remember watching the Land Before Time before preschool and being terrified of the Sharp-Teeth, but fascinated by the Three-Horns.

[alexeratops]

My parents took me to the cinema when I was three years old. We watched Disney´s Dinosaur. And since then dinosaurs have been in my brain my entire life.

Same. Disney's Dinosaur was so cool! I remember paying attention to how the Carnotaur in the movie sort of went side to side with each step, so when I was imitating that i always hopped from foot to foot.

You can see its slight swerve as it runs here:
https://youtu.be/Pomwmaqd2A0

[Dinoguy2]

My grandfather got me a set of these Bullyland dinosaurs (just the Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, Brontosaurus, Stegosaurus, Pteranodon, and Dimetrodon, all in different paint schemes than shown here) when I was about 3 or 4. I was used to asking my parents if a toy monster was "real" and hearing "no", so imagine my shock when they said these were!

[Libraraptor]

There probably were two different roots. I remember my classmate drawing an Ornithosuchus at the blackboard when I was in the second grade. I was fascinated. Then one day I found the Life - book "The World we Live in" in my grandpa´s library and fell in love with the Zallinger painting of prehistoric times. The classic initiation scene.