Dino-mite ! Bentonville Public Library celebrated Rexy's first year with the library on Saturday.
Posted on Sunday, November 16, 2008
Sunday photograph by David Frank Dempsey Kaden Courtney, 3, sat with Rexy during a Jurassic Party at the Bentonville Public Library on Saturday.
BENTONVILLE — Dinosaurs once again walked the earth Saturday as the larger than life creatures found new life in the community’s children at the Bentonville Public Library Saturday.
Not even the cold weather could hamper the fun at Rexy’s Jurassic Party where children of all ages excavated dinosaur fossils, told stories about the Paleolithic period and helped their parents become kids again.
“(Events like this ) are just really exciting for kids to get their hands dirty and explore, ” Marie Vukin with the Children’s Museum of Northwest Arkansas said. The children’s museum partnered with the library to help celebrate dinosaurs Saturday.
One of the most popular events of the day was the dino-dig which gave kids the opportunity to become archaeologists. Wearing goggles and wielding paint brushes, little ones scoured a sandbox looking for Plaster of Paris dinosaur fossils.
Nicole Wright, 9, found fossils of jellyfish, fish and seashells which were her favorite.
“ I like the seashells because they are in all different shapes and they can be colorful, and I like digging in the ground, ” Nicole said.
When she finished uncovering fossils, Nicole was off to make a dino-rama, where she set up toy dinosaurs and trees to tell a story about the majestic animals.
Nicole’s story, titled “ Dinosaur Eating, ” was about all the things the dinosaurs ate, including each other. The Tyrannosaurus Rex in Nicole’s dino-rama played the role of protector and helped save smaller dinos.
“ The T-Rex is my favorite because he is so big and I like the way he stands up and when he opens his mouth, you can see all of his teeth, ” Nicole said.
Bob and Linda Thornburg of Springdale brought their grandchildren, Taylor Sizemore, 6, and Kaden Courtney, 3, to the library for Saturday’s events.
“ We are just having a good day out with the grandparents, ” Linda Thornburg said. She and her husband kept where they were going a secret from their grandchildren until they arrived at the library so they could surprise Kaden and Taylor.
Jay and Tricia LaFountaine brought their three children, Abigail, 5, Sabrina, 8, and Ben, 9, as a way to get them outside.
“ They are having fun while they are learning. I like that they are outside. They spend so much time inside playing video games and stuff and now they are outside playing like little kids, ” Tricia LaFountaine said.
Jay was surprised to learn that his daughter, Abigail, was quite a marksman with the blow-guns the Children’s’ Museum had on display for the kids to play with.
“ This is entertaining. All three of them get to do their own thing here and there is something for all of them and they are all pretty excited about dinosaurs, ” Jay said.
“ This is an incredible thing for our community. This children’s’ museum will be the only one in the region and it will bring people into the area. ” Terry Held, who was at the library as a volunteer worker, said.
“ It was easy to say yes to come out to this today. Look at all these kids here. The community really wants to see this thing fly, ” Held said.
Several hundred children came out to be a part of Rexy’s Jurassic Party at the library, a turnout that surprised and delighted Sue Ann Pekel, children’s librarian.
“ We could not be more thrilled. Kids love dinosaurs and they are have a really good time and they are learning, ” Pekel said.
FEEDBACK:
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online
