Three Days Of Dinosaur Fun Returns To Eastern Iowa Museum

Who doesn't love dinosaurs? These prehistoric creatures become the main subject of an annual, multi-day event that returns to the Putnam Museum and Science Center in Davenport, Iowa. Three days of dinosaur fun roars back to the Putnam at the end of June.

Friday, June 28th kicks off a fun-filled weekend with the classic 90’s film: Jurassic Park. They will be showing the movie in 3D on the GIANT Screen Theater at 7 p.m.

Starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 29th is Dino Days. This annual event is fun for the whole family and includes admission to a movie.

At 11 a.m., the brand-new movie T. Rex will be premiering in the GIANT Screen Theater. It incorporates real-life paleontology (including three children who recently found T. rex fossils in North Dakota) with cutting-edge CGI to bring the world of dinosaurs to life. The movie will be interspersed throughout the weekend between screenings of Dino Dana.

The 2-day event will include a “Create Your Dinosaur Name” activity, face painting, a dinosaur button station, and a special “dig” area with a sluice and a sandbox.

The full museum will be open with a scavenger hunt, and there will be talks given by a paleontologist and her dinosaur. You can preserve your Dino Days memories with two separate photo opportunities: one for printed photos and one for selfies.

On Sunday, June 30th, the event goes from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., but there will be a special sensory-friendly version of the event starting at 10 a.m..

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The Putnam Museum’s sensory-friendly events are set up to avoid overstimulation. The paleontologist will not be joined by her dinosaur until afternoon, and some activities will be modified. They will be showing a sensory-friendly version of T. Rex at noon. This means the movie will be in 2D, the lights will be dimmed instead of off, and the volume will be lowered.

Guests will be free to move around the theater and make noise. There will also be a “cool-down” zone in the Lardner Balcony, which is accessible from the upper exit of the theater.

To enjoy all of the dino fun, tickets can be purchased on their website, putnam.org/events/dinodays.