Evolution Explained. Dinosaurs, Chimps & Hallucigenia – Oh My!
As an educated adult with degrees from a liberal education university, I know that there’s no denying evolution. Religion aside, it’s plain & simple science. No matter what, if any, higher power you believe in, you just can’t (or shouldn’t) blindly and moronically ignore science.
Charlie’s Playhouse was founded by scientist and mom Dr. Kate Miller and is packed with information, toys, and games introducing children to the ideas of Charles Darwin, evolution and natural selection in a very child-friendly way. The Giant Timeline (playmat $49; poster $29) is available in two forms: an 18 foot long play mat or 12 foot long folding poster, both covering 600 million years of history in short 20 million year steps. It’s an unequivocally huge hit with the kids around our place. What kid doesn’t love animals? And particularly dinosaurs. It features amazing creatures from the fossil record that are intelligently arranged on sea, land and sky. The poster is perfect for hanging at kids’ eye height in a hallway, and my kids love to walk on the play mat and act out evolution in their own highly creative and hugely inaccurate way. Educational for everyone, hilarious for the onlookers!
The Ancient Creature Cards ($20) feature every creature from the Giant Timeline on it’s own 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inch card with a colourful illustration, fun facts and a size comparison figure such as the coin pictured on the top card above. While not as thrilling as the play mat for the younger kids, they’re great on their own or as an accompaniment. The images alone are enticing enough for a good 20 minutes of quiet pondering for my not-yet-reading child, and that’s worth way more than $20 most days.
Find more great Darwin-related activities & ideas at the Charlie’s Playhouse blog.
Happy (slightly belated, though I’m sure he won’t mind) 200th birthday, Charlie!
Win it! We’ve got a Giant Timeline Playmat to give away, valued at $49. To enter, leave a comment on this post before noon mst on Thursday, April 16, 2009.
CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED
April 9th, 2009 at 4:37 am
Wow how cool is that!!!!!
So going to check it out!
April 9th, 2009 at 8:51 am
So cute! We just went to the museum yesterday to look at dinosaurs, and my son loved it. Thank you.
April 9th, 2009 at 9:20 am
I’ve been a fan of Charlie’s Playhouse since I heard of it a few months ago (through Dale McGowan / Parenting Beyond Belief, if I recall correctly). I can’t wait for my kids to be old enough to start learning more about the wonderful, natural world in which we live. My oldest is 18 months, and currently limited to identifying fish, trees, clouds, bugs, leaves, et al. The sense of history and inquisitiveness will come soon enough, and I look forward to having excellent tools like those available from Charlie’s Playhouse to help out.
April 9th, 2009 at 9:21 am
As a college level paleontology instructor, I think the timeline mat is a fantastic idea for kids. Even college students have difficulty with the concept of “deep time”, not to mention the chronology of earth history based on sound geological evidence. If more kids could develop an appreciation for the chronology of earth history through play or stories, we could get “beyond dinosaurs” and into some truly effective learning at an early age. That might be a very good thing.
April 9th, 2009 at 9:52 am
Fun giveaway.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:20 am
3 Grandchildren that are sometimes excitedly”out of control” when they get together on weekends. A structured, educational fun playtime activity would be great for
restoring some “sanity” to their visits.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:26 am
I found Charlie’s Playground via Skepchick a while back, and I love their blog. It’s so nice to see “real” science aimed at kids, in such a fun fashion.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:27 am
This is so nifty. This looks like a really great company. Thanks for the giveaway.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:29 am
I am a subscriber.
April 9th, 2009 at 11:11 am
My son is just starting to get into dinosaurs. What a great way to expand his knowledge further!
April 9th, 2009 at 11:20 am
Wow, that would be super duper cool! I love the playmat learning concept. And I could probably learn a lot, too…
April 9th, 2009 at 11:31 am
I’ve had that very item on my daughter’s Amazon wishlist for a month. Thanks for the opportunity to win it.
April 9th, 2009 at 11:43 am
very nice
April 9th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
what an awesomem idea.
April 9th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
love to win for my grandson
April 9th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
I love anything educational. It’s fun to read with the kids and more fun if they learn something while we do it.
April 9th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Brilliant giveaway! This would be great for my grandchildren!
Thanks
April 9th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
thats a great prize, i love it
April 9th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
this sounds fabulous
April 9th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
I’d love to share this with my girls! Thanks!
April 9th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
I subscribe!
April 9th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
My son would love this! Thanks for the chance.
April 9th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
This is so neat. I would love to win this for my nephew. He is four and would love this.
Thank you
April 9th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Cute! I know someone who would LOVE this!
April 9th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
I ordered the timeline for us to play with and explore here at home and my daughter really likes it. Her favorite part? Walking along it and stomping on the mass extinctions.
April 9th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
I plan to homeschool my little one, so that would be a very cool tool to have on hand.
April 9th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
I’m a subscriber.
April 9th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Your button is on my blog.
April 9th, 2009 at 8:49 pm
Any way we can impress (and it IS impressive) the concept of deep time onto our childrn and grandchildren, we need to do it. This timeline is an awesome educational tool, and fun too. I’d love to win it to donate to my grandchildren’s school.
April 9th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
My boys would love this, especially my oldest one.
Thanks,
Michelle S
April 9th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
This is great!!! I have master degree in geology. I took several courses in Paleontology and I would love to teach my kids.
April 9th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Looks very helpful!
April 9th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
i’d love to have this! thanks!
autumn398 (at) yahoo.com
April 10th, 2009 at 2:22 am
Ooooh! VERY cool! Homeschooling 5 kids under 6 can be a challenge, but I bet this would hold all of their attention
April 10th, 2009 at 6:09 am
dinosaurs
April 10th, 2009 at 6:40 am
My grandson is a little young for it yet, but he could just absorb the education from a very early age without even knowing he is doing it!
April 10th, 2009 at 7:00 am
wow
April 10th, 2009 at 7:02 am
my nephew would love to have this mat.thanks
April 10th, 2009 at 7:33 am
we’d love to win!
April 10th, 2009 at 8:53 am
My daughter is fascinated with the dinosaur eras.
April 10th, 2009 at 8:58 am
my little guy is pretty big into dinosaurs lately
April 10th, 2009 at 9:31 am
This would be fantastic for my grand children. I’d love to get them interested in science.
April 10th, 2009 at 9:57 am
This looks great! Thanks for the chance!
April 10th, 2009 at 10:49 am
Wow cool is this… Learning about timelines and dinosaurs in such a fun way…
April 10th, 2009 at 11:10 am
This would be great for my grandson, he loves science and animals.
April 10th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
The kids at the dv shelter will love this
April 10th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
I think this would really spark my nephew’s imagination!
April 10th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
My son would love this. Thanks for the chance.
April 10th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
Entering the contest, thank you. I’ve shared Charlie’s PLayhouse on my blog and think it is a great thing Kate and friends are doing to promoe evolution education via toys/games… Whoever wins will be very lucky!
April 10th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
Oh this would be awesome for our family! Thank you for having a pro-evolution post, yeah!!!
April 10th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
this is so neat
April 10th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Really neat, please enter me!
April 11th, 2009 at 2:05 am
My grandson would love this.
janetfaye (at) gmail (dot) com
April 11th, 2009 at 8:41 am
I am always bewildered that it is liberal to believe in evolution, yet in my family it is.
Fun giveaway.
April 11th, 2009 at 8:41 am
I subscribe. (Does that count for n extra entry on this giveaway?)
April 11th, 2009 at 9:48 am
This is a great idea. Presenting complex science information in an accessible format. I am sure I’ll learn a lot from looking at the timeline myself!
April 11th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
I’d love to share this with my kids’ school!
April 11th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
What a great way to celebrate Darwin’s birthday!
April 11th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
As an evolutionary biologist, I give it a big four thumbs up!
April 11th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Cool giveaway. I first heard about Charlie’s Playhouse from the Friendly Atheist. Definitely a fan.
April 11th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
I’ve already emailed my parents with a list of things from Charlie’s Playhouse to get for my oldest son when he turns 7 this year. Very cool stuff!
April 11th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
I love Charlie’s Playhouse.
April 11th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
This looks like a great product. Would love one for my children!
April 11th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Wow, how neat to find something about real science! I’ve looked for a timeline like this one for a long time!
Thanks for making products that are real, fatual, and very cool!!
April 11th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
{crosses fingers}
April 11th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
I would use this with my high school students!
April 11th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
This is a great idea.
April 12th, 2009 at 9:34 am
sounds like a cool playmat
April 12th, 2009 at 10:58 am
great giveaway,my kids would love this
April 12th, 2009 at 11:04 am
i’m so happy this is based in science!
April 12th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
My daughter would LOVE this. Thanks for the chance.
mogrill@comcast.net
April 12th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
My son would enjoy this.
April 12th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
My son would love this! Thanks for the chance!
April 12th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
A wonderful, fun way to learn! Thanks for this offer.
April 12th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
My kids would love to have this.
April 13th, 2009 at 8:52 am
I would love to win this for my son. tHank you!
tatertot374@sbcglobal.net
April 13th, 2009 at 10:33 am
This looks fun! And a great learning tool as well.
April 13th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
My daughter is crazy about this. She wants to win this for her and her brother.
April 13th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
What a nice activity for the kids. Thanks for the chance to win!
April 13th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Thank you for saying that! I am so tired of hearing about “creation” based science. That is not science! I would love to share this with my kids.
April 13th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Interesting giveaway
April 14th, 2009 at 4:13 am
Marvelous products – I think every kid would enjoy (and learn from) this playmat.
April 14th, 2009 at 11:05 am
Another great giveaway. Good product…would like to give to my little nephew
April 14th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
This would be so wonderful for my daughter. We have been discussing when different events have occurred so this would be a great visual tool.
April 14th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
That is so neat. I would love to win this for my kids!
April 14th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
OMG…..my family would love to have this, please enter me and thanks for the great contest!
clemensrhonda@hotmail.com
April 14th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
this would be a great learning tool for my daughter who i homeschool
April 15th, 2009 at 12:15 am
This would be perfect for my grandson.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:46 am
My son caleb has special needs and this would be a activity that I think would keep his attention.
thanks so much for the giveaway
April 15th, 2009 at 7:29 am
I would love to win this. I think it is great for anyone at any age to learn about dinosaurs and evolution. It would make a great donation for my son’s school if I don’t keep it for myself!
April 15th, 2009 at 9:41 am
Want it! My daughter would love it!
April 15th, 2009 at 10:53 am
This would be fun for my daughter.
April 15th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Very cool. My daughter would love this.
April 15th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
enter me
April 15th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
I would love a children’s playmat for my son. He needs a good one to play on and I have heard so many good thing about this company.
April 15th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
How cute! I’d love to win this.
April 15th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
My two little grandsons would love this. Thanks for the giveaway.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
I’ve also been a fan (and developing a list of “to-buy” items, including the timeline) ever since hearing of CP via Dale McGowan. We’d love to have one of these playmats in our household, especially to counteract the young-Earth side of my (sigh) family.
April 15th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Very nice. Thanks!
April 15th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
My grandson will love this.
April 15th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
my son would like this, thanks
April 15th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
That time line is so cool. My son would love it.
April 15th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
My 2 little ones love to find the creatures from the cards on the timeline, which I’m afraid to leave out for fear of destruction. The playmat would have been a worthwhile investment.
April 15th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
Hi! Cool blog, cool product and really cool contest. My 6 year old would love it!
April 15th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
This is so cool!
April 15th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
My son would love this!
April 15th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
That looks really cool; my kiddos would really enjoy it.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
My kids would like this one
April 15th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Stand your ground!! You rock!
April 15th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
Amazing how a clear and matter-of-fact presentation can sink in and kind of “insulate” a young mind from some of the unfounded “logic” all-too-soon to come flooding in from the equal-opportunity “kumbaya” (irr|cre)ationalistas. This would be very welcome at our home!
April 15th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
Thanks so much for providing a place to purchase great evolution games for kids. I want to share it with my son and 7th grade students.
April 16th, 2009 at 12:11 am
I would love one of these for my son!!
April 16th, 2009 at 1:47 am
I just love it when we teach and children learn – but they just think they are playing and having fun! Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this giveaway!
April 16th, 2009 at 5:24 am
Now THIS is something I would want around my children. Some of the mindless rubbish you find for children these days amazes me. A+ to Charlie’s Playhouse!
April 16th, 2009 at 6:04 am
My daughter would love this. I could have used this in school.
April 16th, 2009 at 6:33 am
looks like fun for kids
April 16th, 2009 at 6:50 am
Please enter me into the contest. Thanks!
April 16th, 2009 at 8:16 am
Count me in. Thanks.
sweet_soul_sistermi@yahoo.com
April 16th, 2009 at 8:26 am
This looks like a lot of fun!
April 16th, 2009 at 8:40 am
My son is obsessed with dinosaurs!
April 16th, 2009 at 8:41 am
I HAVE A LITTLE BOY AND HE WOULD LOVE THIS. HE IS LEARNING HIS ANIMALS
April 16th, 2009 at 9:08 am
OMG!
How cool!
I would love win this so I can give it to my BFF who is having a boy next month! YAY!!
~Thanks for the chance~
April 16th, 2009 at 10:00 am
This would be very popular in my household… fingers crossed
April 16th, 2009 at 11:13 am
great contest
April 16th, 2009 at 11:35 am
Looks like a great learning tool!
April 16th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
My son collects dinosours and he would love this.
April 16th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
What a wonderful idea for kids.
April 16th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Please enter me
April 16th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Fabulous giveaway and please accept my entry, ty.