When we go to our local childrens' museum, the first place we usually hit is the dinosaur exhibit. At first, these big bones creatures were a source of fright for my daughter, but it didn't take long to quickly turned into a source of intrigue and wonder."Mom, these animals were really living once?" I've heard many times.
What I've also heard is: "Where did they go?" or "What happened to them?"
If you're not lucky enough to have a museum with real dino bones to visit (or even if you are), you're going to want to take that learning home with the Giant Evolution Timeline Playmat ($49) by Charlie's Playhouse.
Founded by a scientist mom, she came up with the idea for the mat after she was unable to find fun, educational tools to teach her two sons about the evolution and the time-line of the Earth.
What is the playmat exactly? At first glance, it looks like a large coffee table book. When unfolded, it's 18 feet of of amazing illustrations - depicting the history of life. The playmat can be walked on (nothing like skipping over 18 feet and through 600 million years), read like a big book or stood up on it side to create a "history fort" of sorts.
We love the mat because it goes beyond the dinosaurs everybody already knows about and has included less famous creatures like the huge Leedsichthys or the flying Dimorphodon, just to name a few.
Made of high quality green materials, this mat is not only cleanable but very eco-friendly. So friendly in fact that it was voted one of Mr. Toys "Best Green Products" of 2009.
GET YOUR OWN! The Giant Evolution Timeline Playmat (recommended for the +4 year old crowd) sells for $49 and can be purchased online. This would make an awesome educational gift or tool for the homeschooling family.
WIN YOUR OWN! We have a playmat to give away to one lucky Simple reader. To enter, visit the Charlie's Playhouse website, come back here and leave a comment letting us know how you would use this product to teach your curious kid about the animals of long, long, ago.
Additional entries (comment for each additional entry):
- Blog about this contest linking back to Simple Reviews and Charlie's Playhouse.
- Become a new follower to Simple Reviews.
- Tweet this giveaway! Please include us in the tweet - we're @simplereviews
I know my little one would love to read it every night before bed although this will take us many, many nights. Plus he always love to re-read stories over and over!
ReplyDeleteI've just started following Simple Reviews today!
ReplyDeleteTweeted ~ http://twitter.com/susanlanai/status/4609541141
ReplyDeleteI tweeted as kokanary.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many ways to teach my nephew and niece about evolution with the Giant Timeline Floor Mat, including laying it down flat to skip, jump and play.
ReplyDeleteplur268 at yahoo dot com
LA loves dinos! We would read and play with this timeline alot!! Great company!
ReplyDeleteWe would for sure be using it on the floor. My little boy likes moving while learning and making an activity out of it would be so fun!
ReplyDeleteMy 3 yr old is OBSESSED with dinos, so this would be the best thing ever!!
ReplyDeleterbfoxy@gmail.com
I am a teacher and a mom. I could see this being a wonderful tool for either role:) I know my son would set it up as a fort and admire the creatures. Thanks for the great giveaway:)
ReplyDeleteMy son loves dinosaurs and this would be a great teaching tool for that. We read alot about dinosaurs in books but this looks like it would be alot more fun and entertaining to teach with!
ReplyDeletedanmarugg@yahoo.ca
This is an amazingly cool thing! 18 feet long it says. This would be perfect for our home school. We could easily integrate it into our studies. The visuals on this look great.
ReplyDeleteMy son loves dinosaurs and have recently started asking questions as to what happened to them. This would be a great learning tool for him.
ReplyDeletemakenacove(at)gmail(dot)com
I'm a new follower!
ReplyDeletemakenacove(at)gmail(dot)com
lovely prize id love to be able to give to my grandson , i follow you as @weldo :)
ReplyDeleteHave tweeted and will continue to keep tweeting your tweet!from a twittering tweeter from twitter!
ReplyDeletei would do a sliding game with it.
ReplyDeleteMy son's current obsession is Dinosaur Train. So it would be fun to try to find the dinosaurs or even just their time on the timeline after watching the show. Thanks for the giveaway!
ReplyDeletemommastaci33(at)yahoo(dot)com
My little one loves dinosaurs so this would be great.
ReplyDeleteThis is really cool. If I were to win it, I would let my son play with it and then I would loan it out to my dad who is a geologist who gives alot of classroom talks about fossils and the geologic history of the earth.
ReplyDeletekerrie@mayansfamily.com
My daughter is a Dino fanatic!! Thanks for the chance.
ReplyDeletemogrill@comcast.net
My kids would love to use this by speading it out in the hallway and going over the information a few times a week
ReplyDeletetimmiedeluca@comcast.net
timmiedeluca@comcast.net
ReplyDeletefollow blog
timmiedeluca@comcast.net
ReplyDeletehttp://twitter.com/GabbyLowe/status/4698104874
tweeted
My dinosaur obsessed son would love this visual reminder of how long ago they lived. LOVE the site- the flash cards and apparel would be wonderful for my kids as well
ReplyDeleteMy son LOVES dinos and is learning to read. He would love to have this to learn about dinos, and help practice his reading. Thanks
ReplyDeleteIt would be great to help the boy learn about dinosaurs. Just like most little boys he loves dinos.
ReplyDeleteWe love dinos here so that's not a problem. I love the fact that it's a book, playmat, or even a fort! Very interactive. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteMy son loves Dinos and it would be so great to have a visual to explain timelines to him. Thanks for the chance, justicecw@hotmail.com
ReplyDeleteTweeted at http://twitter.com/justicecw/status/4785001547
ReplyDeletejusticecw@hotmail.com
very interesting! I would definitely use this to show my daughter the different forms of life that existed back then, some became extinct, some survived, but in a very different form today... great educational tool!
ReplyDeletemicaela6955 at msn dot com
I am a new blog follower as of today.
ReplyDeletemicaela6955 at msn dot com
My son loves dinosaurs. We would use this in our home school curriculum by hanging it low on the wall so that he can see it all the time.
ReplyDeletepinkveganmiso(at)yahoo(dot)com
I think hanging this around the bathroom would make some good reading.
ReplyDeleteFollow and tweeted: http://twitter.com/qwills2cats/status/4852479848
ReplyDeleteI would lay it out and go over it with my child. then we could go to the museum and discover more about the creatures. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteegreca (at) hotmail {dot} com
I would roll this out on the edge of the room and let the kids absorb it at their own pace. It would be interesting and engaging for a while as their capacity to understand increases.
ReplyDeleteMy daughters love learning about history and each night would could add on to it, very fun and something for the kids to look forward and talk about!
ReplyDeletejeccica
primitivelyours@hotmail.com
I am a follower of your blog
ReplyDeletejeccica
primitivelyours@hotmail.com
I tweeted :
ReplyDeletehttp://twitter.com/jessa1130/statuses/4880506899
jeccica
primitivelyours@hotmail.com
I'd point at each pic. and talk about them.
ReplyDeleteerma.hurtt@sbcglobal.net
I like this item as well as the one that hangs on the walls. My girls are totally in to I Spy right now so I would maybe makeup a game of I Spy Dinosaurs and go from there.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
now following :)
ReplyDeleteI'd give this to my daughter's first grade classroom. Her teacher would love to plan lessons around it.
ReplyDeleteJennifer, jennem22 at yahoo dot com
I can just see my husband and our daughter sprawled on the livingroom floor, discovering the timeline. He would make a big adventure out of it so I'd give him the opportunity to do that.
ReplyDeleteMy daughters are in love with dinosaurs right now. They love reading and watching anything about dinosaurs. This mat is great because it actually give you all the pronounciations of the dinosaur names which I know I totally mess up while reading to them.
ReplyDeleteI would actually probably put it up on the wall in my sons room or in the hall wall so that he could see it all the time.. Then when we want to read or look at it in details take it down and go over the years and animals...
ReplyDeletelove the t shirts .
ReplyDeleteMy niece loves dinosaurs, this would be great to spread out on the floor and teach her different things with - plus it's easy to clean up when we're done!
ReplyDeleteThe kids would love this so it wouldn't take much to get them interested. It's large enough to where everyone could look at it and enjoy at once, unlike a book.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much!
saddleoneup at att dot net
We would read it and play with it most every night! My daughter would love this! Thanks!
ReplyDeletehawkgirl_16{at}hotmail{dot}com
I would put this down in our hall way so the kids could check it out when going to their rooms or he bathroom. They love dinos.
ReplyDeletewe would use this to learn about the past by using it during playtime, we love new things to learn from!
ReplyDeletehttp://twitter.com/mrstls/status/4915981725
ReplyDeleteWould be put out for display and to look at and use.
ReplyDeletewombatspurple at yahoo dot com
I would pull it out on a rainy or snowy day and play with it for the morning! Read them the facts, etc, let them look at all of the pictures!
ReplyDeletelaurawins286@yahoo.com
How cool. This toy should give children a sense of the scale of human evolution vs. the timeline of histoy. While not a homeschooler, I do definately believe in furthering education at home and this would be a wonderful tool to delve into Darwinian science. Thanks for the giveaway!
ReplyDeletekanderspina~at~yahoo~dot~com
My daughter would love to use this by speading it out in the hallway and going over the information a few times a week.
ReplyDeleteskipsilvia at email dot com
this would be so awesome not only can the little ones learn but so can the parents
ReplyDeleteI'm sure my kids would just unfold it right on the living room floor and enjoy :)
ReplyDeleteMy granddaughter is learning to read so this will be a fun way to learn to read and about dinosaurs as well.
ReplyDeletePlease, enter me, great prize!!! I would love to win this for my son.
ReplyDeleteMy toddler boys show an extreme interest in dinosaurs and would lose themselves within those giant pages. I'd bring them back to reality with chore-time.
ReplyDeleteI spend alot of time with my granddaughter and would lay it out on the floor and go over the stories time and time again..she just loves it when she's read too
ReplyDeletecherdon@sympatico.ca