Lake Zurich kids see, touch dinosaur bones

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to hold a real dinosaur bone?

That's exactly what children did when they held the leg bone of a Camarasaurus brought in by paleontologists Don Pfister and Lisa Zago-Martin during the “Dinosauria” program at Ela Area Public Library in Lake Zurich.

“After watching the program, the kids have a real interest in science and it really sparks something in their minds,” Zago-Martin said. “These are actual dinosaur bones that are 145 million years old. It's a rare opportunity for the kids to get a chance to touch them and handle them.”

The dinosaur hunters presented a slide show describing the dig site where they worked at the Red Canyon Ranch in Shell, WY, as children were transfixed on the bones of the dinosaurs from the late Jurassic period.

“The dinosaurs are a good vehicle to promote science in general, especially all the natural sciences,” Pfister said. “The dinosaurs are a universal attraction for promoting education. In classrooms, you can see the future paleontologists.”

After holding the large leg bone, 11-year-old Cheyanne Gwizdala of Lake Zurich said, she thought it was “really cool” to learn about different dinosaurs.

“The bone felt really big and powerful,” she said. “I never thought I would get to hold one.”