Dinosaur Park in Laurel, MD (near DC) is the perfect educational gem, family affordable admissions, scientifically significant fossil site. Open regularly, but best visited on the first/third Saturdays for supervised digs, it features authentic, healthy outdoor exploration and paleontologist-led learning for kids, making it a priceless activity. Happy & Active: Kids love finding fossils, exploring the outdoor, fenced-in site. read more

Unless you go to one of their interpretive programs on the first and third Saturdays of the month. (What they said) ...It was pretty much only a few fact boards to look at/read, and like one thing for kids to climb around. So just because the stated hours are open during the week, doesn't mean there's anything going on and you can't like go behind the fence and there's no digs or anything, or even any place to walk. Sure there's picnic tables if you wanna just sit and eat your lunch with a bunch of corporate office buildings all around but it's definitely not something I would drive 45 minutes to unless you're actively going to one of the scheduled interpretive program. read more

Dinosaur Park - This is pretty much it. You can read the fact boards and be done and go home lol - Parks Near Me - Laurel, Maryland

A real dinosaur excavation site in the DMV area?! I'm in! First off, you should know that the excavation site is only open to the public twice a month. Check their website for the days and times. The hours are earlier in the spring/summer, for example. But if you're lucky enough to catch the park during these hours, you'll be able to look for small dinosaur bones after a 10 minute orientation with a super knowledgeable palentologist. Did we find any dinosaur bones? No. Even if we did, we would've had to hand them over (where they could be displayed in a museum with your name as the finder). But despite that, my dinosaur loving 4 year old son had a blast. (My 6 year unicorn loving daughter on the other hand does not have a future as a palentologist and was bored within 30 minutes.) Part of the fun is that there are such knowledgeable people that you can ask a million questions. The other part of the fun is that we found stuff that's 115 million years old! Our finds were - smooth quartz that was likely consumed by a dinosaur, fossilized wood, and iron rock with a super interesting impression in it. Plus, while we were there, someone found a huge dinosaur bone so that was exciting. I think it also gave my kids insight into what life as a palentologist is like. A lot of not finding stuff, with moments of great excitement. read more

In theory, it is so cool that the D.C. area has a dinosaur park. It's outside of Washington, D.C. in Laurel, Maryland. However, I wouldn't recommend it. I did go during the pandemic so it was closed, but looking through the gate, I don't see how you can spend more than a few minutes here. Here's what I observed: 1) Location: It's randomly in the back of an area full of sterile offices. Because of this, there's enough parking and I guess you can't control what development happens around where you find dinosaur bones. 2) Price: It's free! 3) Space: Before you enter the gate, there are restrooms, a picnic table, a tiny parking lot and a few fake dinosaur bones for kids to play on. 4) Tours: The first and third Saturday of the month, they give a talk, but they don't during COVID. read more

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Definitely not what you expect. You drove in among office buildings and an industrial park Our daughter loves dinosaurs, and we made a weekend of it, camping over at the Greenbelt Park, visiting Dinosaur Park on one of the first and third Saturdays. You need to use your imagination to think what this quarry-cum-park looked like back in the cretaceous period. My three year old found tons of plant fossils among the Iron Stone, but was disappointed to not find any actual fossilized bones or teeth. Parking is terrible, so get there early. We were fortunate to see that there is an active dig going on at the back of the park. read more

We just moved to Laurel a few months ago and we've been trying to find new parks in the area. We found this one through Yelp and just saw that it was a dinosaur themed park so we went. Honestly I was expecting a little more. The park is located behind warehouse or HQ buildings and the last place you would expect to find a park. The parking area is small and so is the park itself. There's a pretty cool dinosaur fossil looking display along with a couple oversized eggs. One looks like a baby raptor is trying to escape. We went in the middle of the week and saw that there's a little pavilion area that is only open a couple Saturdays a month so we'd have to come back. There's some pamphlets and looks like there's a guide there and you could actually do some digging or looking for fossils. There's a couple benches and tables if you want to bring food but no cover. So if it was raining or too sunny out then there isn't a lot of shelter/protection. It's a nice little park but it would've been cool if they had more options for kids to play but would have to come back on a Saturday when they open up the pavilion for the guide to update the review. read more

Drove to Dinosaur Park from NYC to take my niece to a surprise visit. Was extremely disappointed to see it was just an extremely small outdoor park with 4 info stands, one imitation egg and a small imitation dinosaur skeleton. The excavation area was closed and it seemed like it was never open. Even the bathrooms were closed. It was a complete waste of time. I wish it can be worked on to avoid the current false advertisement shown online versus what it actually is. read more

Dinosaur Park - A view of the entire park. False advertisement compared to the website. - Parks Near Me - Laurel, Maryland

I drove all the way from nags head NC to go here. I thought there would be playground for the kids at least. It's inside of an industrial park. Pathetic. read more

Dinosaur Park - Parks Near Me - Laurel, Maryland

We came here today - it's the 3rd Saturday of the month, and they're SUPPOSED to be open. But they weren't. A few other families were there, and also disappointed. Would've been nice if they POSTED that they were CLOSED, either on their website, on their phone message or here. Because I checked all 3 in advance. Thanks for a frustrating waste of my afternoon, Anne Arundel County! read more

Dinosaur Park - Parks Near Me - Laurel, Maryland

Dinosaur Park is fun times for the kid crew and you. I took my kids. After a briefing, you are told which areas of the fossil dig place to explore. The kids had fun but they did not find any fossils (as I did not think they would). I really appreciated the helpfulness of the staff as well. We would definitely visit again. read more

Whack! I was expecting more. By an industrial building. No playground or nothing. DONT WASTE YOUR TIME NOR YOUR GAS.

Our family enjoyed the experience. They have two educational stations and you get to explore and fossil findings. On our trip a young girl found an alligator tooth. They don't get to keep but they do get acknowledgement for finding it. If your into dinosaurs or paleontologist, check this place out. read more

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my kids are named after cities, one after Laurel, MD. so we had to take her to see her 'city'. park is small, basically 2 picnic benches and a hill of dirt. after a 15 min prep talk regarding dinosaurs and history of site, we saw some cased samples found in the area; then allowed in to look for any historical remains. very cool, that dinosaurs roamed in very spot, but unless you're an archaeologist or geologist (like my hubs), you're find the experience meh. we spent maybe 35 min there, too hot on an August day to continue to stare at the dirt. read more

Wonderful family afternoons! It can be difficult to find as it's behind an industrial center but don't let that detour you. It's free, but first come first served and only open a few days per month. Make plans to go if you're in the area when it's going to be open. We haven't been in a few years but use to visit regularly with pre-teen children. At the beginning on the session they hold a short briefing and go over a short history or the area and what to look for. Each visit we were able to find something that was kept and recorded by the staff archeologists/paleontologist. Our children always loved going back and seeing their names on the list of of people that had found items at the park. Everyone was always incredibly kind and encouraging of all the visitors, young and old. Thank you Dinosaur Park Volunteers! read more

A cute park situated in the urban heart of Laurel. It's strange to think that we're sitting on top of history. Or, pre-history, rather. It is a very small park though. read more

Dinosaur Park - Hidden on a cul-de-sac in an industrial park. - Parks Near Me - Laurel, Maryland

Terrific family experience. I would only go when the dig site is open, first and third Saturdays of the month. After a briefing, you walk around the site and look through the rocks for fossils. Rocks with plant indentations are plentiful, as is anthracite (coal). Pay close attention to what they are looking for, and you may find something that can be logged and kept. Fossils are kept by the staff for research and they will record the name of the finder. They also may let you take some non-fossil rocks home, which the kids enjoyed. read more

I can't believe this isn't on Yelp already because it's pretty cool that we have an archaeological site open to the public behind a bunch of warehouses in Laurel. The Dinosaur Park is operated through PG County Parks and Rec. The park is free and open to the public on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of the month. This is a really rare site with fossils from the Cretaceous Period (144 to 65 million years ago) and the conditions have been just right to preserve the fossils. You get a brief overview of the history of the site, the different types of fossils discovered there, and what to look for and then you are sent out on your own to look for fossils. Plenty of trained volunteers and an awesome paleontologist, who is absolutely everything you want him to be, are on hand to help you figure out if you found a super awesome petrified dinosaur bone that will be sent to the Smithsonian's collection with your name attached or just a stupid rock. Great for all ages! We found some really old bark, it didn't look special, but it was from a tree that co-existed with dinosaurs! Whhhaaaattt? You're allowed to take home the bark, but after cleaning up ancient tree particles for a few weeks, we ended up tossing it. read more

A kiddie park for the adventurous minds. I work on mid atlantic so I've passed by here on my way to work many times. It's very educational. Open on Sundays for scavenger hunts and such read more

This was an awesome experience! The fact that they open an important fossil bed to complete amateurs of all ages is great. The set up was nice, and all the paleontologist and volunteers were informed, and very patient with all of the kids running up to them with every rock and asking if it was a fossil. The best part is actually finding dinosaur fossils. They are working on improvements, including a bathroom and amphitheater, so I can't wait to go back! Open on the first and fourth Saturday of every month from 12-4, go be a part of history! read more

This place is pretty cool if you or your kids are Dino lovers. As another reviewer mentioned, it is small. I couldn't imagine being here more than a couple hours max. There are lots of rules, the biggest one being no digging!! Being a mom of 2 boys I know the first instinct of most boys when they see rocks & dirt is to dig!! That said I wouldn't recommend bringing kids under age 5, or if you do be sure to have someone to watch the littler ones while the older ones do their thing. They do have a bunch of fossils to see in cases, but not a whole lot else aside from the fossil searching dirt. So, as I said prob not worth the trip unless you have bigger kids who have the patience & interest. The staff were pretty nice, although one guy was a little snappy when he mentioned we'd get kicked out if we were caught digging, I mean come on dude no one has a shovel & there is staff all around watching everyone. Oh yeah, make sure you come on the first or third sat between 12-4 read more

Bottom line is the promise didn't meet the reality. You drive out, you get your briefing, and then essentially look at a pile of dirt. This is not a fossil-laden limestone creek bed or such. There are many small chunks of charcoal that are millions of years old but a chunk of burned wood is not particularly exciting just because it is old. We haven't been back, and we are very science/expeditionary oriented. Meh. read more