Dinosaurs for kids
Dinosaurs were reptiles that lived on land for about 165 million years, until an asteroid hit Earth about 66 million years ago and the big ones died out. We know about them from fossils. Birds are their living relatives, so some dinosaurs never went away.
Five facts about dinosaurs
| Fact | What to know |
|---|---|
| A very long time ago | The first dinosaurs appeared about 230 million years ago. Humans came millions of years after the last big dinosaurs. |
| How we know | Fossils are bones, teeth, footprints and eggs that turned to stone over millions of years. Scientists who study them are called paleontologists. |
| Not all giants | Some dinosaurs were as big as a few buses, and some were about the size of a chicken. Some ate plants and some ate meat. |
| A different world | When the first dinosaurs lived, almost all the land was joined in one supercontinent called Pangaea. It slowly cracked apart into the continents we know. |
| Birds are dinosaurs | The big dinosaurs died out after an asteroid hit about 66 million years ago. Small feathered dinosaurs survived and became today's birds. |
See it on Peabody
- Dinosaurs drawn to scale: thirty-three dinosaurs, two pterosaurs and three sea reptiles beside a child, with how to say each name, what it means, and its size from a named source.
- Planet Earth: open the Drifting continents view (under Moving Earth) and press play to rewind 300 million years. Its timeline marks when the first dinosaurs appear and when the asteroid hits.
- The Body explorer has the skeleton: fossils are mostly bones, so it is a good place to see what a bone is.
Free games to play
Dino Dash
Hatch dinos, ride them through ten lands and tap the right egg. Cacti cost a heart, answers never do.
- sums
- words
| Game | What you do | Practises |
|---|---|---|
| Dino Dash | Hatch dinos, ride them through ten lands and tap the right egg. Cacti cost a heart, answers never do. | sums, words |
Every game has three boxes to tap, no typing, and a Just play button that turns the questions off. They start easy and get harder only after right answers.
Try it at home
- Dig for fossils. Bury plastic bones or shells in a tub of sand and brush them out like a paleontologist.
- Measure a dinosaur. Use chalk or string outside to mark a long dinosaur, then count your steps along it.
- Footprint trail. Stamp a long stride and a short stride in the mud or sand. Which animal made which?
Questions parents ask
When did dinosaurs live?
From about 230 million years ago until about 66 million years ago, when the big ones died out.
What happened to the dinosaurs?
Most scientists agree that an asteroid hit Earth about 66 million years ago, near what is now Mexico, and changed the climate. Birds, which are small dinosaurs, survived.
Were pterosaurs and sea reptiles dinosaurs?
No. Flying pterosaurs and swimming reptiles like plesiosaurs lived at the same time but were different kinds of reptile.
Is there a free dinosaur game for kids?
Yes. Dino Dash is free through the end of 2026, with no ads and no sign-up: you ride a dino you hatched and tap the right answer at each sign.
Is it free?
Yes. Peabody is free through the end of 2026, with no ads and no sign-up to start. Nothing on these pages asks for a child's name.
Play one now
Checked against how Peabody works on 29 October 2026. Written with help from AI, from Peabody's own code and library. Peabody is a learning app, not an assessment: if you're worried about your child's learning, talk to their teacher. How Peabody's pages are made.