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Kids who love dinosaurs make better learners and smarter kids, according to three separate studies.

According to a 2007 study published in the journal Developmental Research, about one in three young children will develop an “intense interest” in a subject at some point and we know one of the most popular of these is often a dinosaur obsession.

Parents and researchers don’t always know exactly what sparks this ‘intense interest’ but kids between the ages of 2 and 6 years old can often name more dinosaurs than their parents.

Kelli Chen, a paediatric psychiatric occupational therapist at Johns Hopkins University says that these intense interests are also huge confidence boosters. But they’re also showing how you can learn without knowing you’re learning.

“Asking questions, finding answers, and gaining expertise is the learning process in general,” says Kelli. “Exploring a topic and mastering it, is beneficial because that’s how we form careers as adults.

“A kid’s primary occupation is play, so they’re going about their job of playing through the lens of this thing they’re interested in learning about,” she adds.

But it’s not just the dinosaurs that kids are obsessed with, they also love that they know more than their parents about a subject for the first time in their life.

“It makes them feel powerful,” paleontologist Kenneth Lacovara tells CNN. “Their parent may be able to name three or four dinosaurs and the kid can name 20, and the kid seems like a real authority.”

Sadly there’s also a big social component to the waning of that intense interest, as kids begin to interact with their peers on a daily basis and realize not everyone is all dinosaurs all the time.

Is your child dinosaur obsessed?

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  • My grandson is obsessed by them and I think he fits perfectly into this description of dinosaur loving kids, I think he’s a super clever little boy. And I’m not a biased nan……AT ALL lol

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  • My little one is still only one so no obsessions yet but my nephew was.

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  • My youngster should be brainy. He adores them and has books about them.
    I recently discovered you can get books that are pre-school age appropriate.
    It has flaps you lift to reveal extra ones.

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  • I had a few plastic dinosaurs when I was around 6, a T-Rex was my favourite and I called it Falkor after the good-luck dragon in The NeverEnding Story film.

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  • Neither of my children were obsessed but they did like occasionally playing with dinosaurs.

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  • No neither of mine have shown an interest in them

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  • Unfortunately dinosaur arent big here

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  • Yes my kids can name more dinosaurs than us. And they love to sing the dinosaur songs. But I’m not sure whether they’ll be very smart. Lol

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  • My nine year old is still deeply into dinosaurs.

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  • Neither of mine were interested in dinosaurs as littlies but now they love anything to do with Jurassic Park.

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  • My daughter love dinosaurs. Any chance to play with them or to watch a dinosaur movie she’s there.

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  • My grandson absolutely loves dinosaurs at the moment! But he also loves anything with wheels and PJ Masks. I think he’s really smart regardless

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  • So does it have to be dinosaurs or can any obsession where they know more than you count?

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  • I have grand children who you could say are obsessed, but they also have other interests. In regard to dinosaurs I think such an obsession can, if handled properly, expand into an interest in history and the different times and ages of the past.

    Reply

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