DINOSAUR DECORATIONS
We decorated our place to look like Jurassic Park with some help from ATMOS FX. Utilizing their digital special effects, you can display images on your television, project them on walls or hang see-through sheets of material to create holograms in entryways and windows. Their dinosaur encounter collection allows Brontosaurus, Raptors, Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus Rex to tromp around a space.
As the family competed in a game of Jurassic World: Volcano Escape, engaged in a match of the dinosaur edition of Top Trumps, and played around with Fingerlings Untamed Raptors from WowWee, we had an impressive backdrop of rotating dinosaur scenes being shown on our tv screen. These dinosaurs moved about within a landscape meant to seem as if you are viewing them while taking a trek through a prehistoric wilderness. They also bark, chirp and roar adding sound to the visual imagery.
Show dinosaur encounter images on television screens through a DVD player or by inserting a USB drive into the TV. Or you can also use the ATMOS FX projector to display these images on a wall. A great way to add some temporary decorations to a room for a themed get together. We had raptors all over the place during our dinosaur fun day!
You can also cover your windows with plastic screening to display ATMOS FX images on them. How amazing would it be to look out the window and see a dinosaur walking by? Place the project outside your home and you can make it look like dinosaurs are roaming around outside your house. Another great way to do some interior decorating with ATMOS FX special effects.
The dinosaur encounter collection also has images with the landscape backdrops cut out that just show the dinosaurs with a transparent background. Why would they do that? Because by placing a clear coating over a door or a window you can create holograms of the dinosaurs. Project the images from inside onto your windows and your neighbors will think dinosaurs are inside your house. Place some screening across your porch and guests can be greeted by a T-Rex at your front door.
Hey look at this! Using the ATMOS FX hologram feature you can also make it look like dinosaurs are stomping around your house with you too. Another great way to decorate your place.
In addition to dinosaurs there are also ATMOS FX digital decorations with Halloween, Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, St. Patrick's and Valentine's Day themes. ATMOS FX special effects are a great way to transform anyplace into an impressive space for having a fantastic time in. For more information about ATMOS FX digital decorations and gear head over to atmosfx.com.
VOLCANO ESCAPE
Ever played Parcheesi? Volcano Escape is a dinosaur themed variation of the classic Parker Brothers board game, which itself is an adaption of the game Pachisi which originates from medieval India. Volcano Escape is based upon the 2018 blockbuster film Jurassic World 2: Fallen Kingdom. In this game, just like in the movie, players need to rescue dinosaurs from Isla Nublar, home of the Jurassic World theme park, before the island is decimated by a volcanic eruption.
The goal of the game is to be the first player to evacuate four dinosaurs onto a boat that will whisk them off the island to safety. A custom die is used to determine how players' dinosaurs move around the game board. It has individually numbered sides from 1-5 with a sixth side featuring a picture of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
During a player's turn, he or she rolls the die. If the die lands on a numbered side, a player either moves the amount of spaces shown on the die or can instead choose to use the turn to roll out that number of lava balls from the volcano. The volcano has a slide mechanism that randomly shoots balls to different parts of the game board. If one of a player's dinosaurs are hit by a lava ball it must return to its starting point on the game board.
If a player rolls a T-Rex they can place that non-player dinosaur someplace on the game board. No one can move past the T-Rex without rolling that dinosaur's image on the die. A player approaching the dinosaur has two turns to try and roll a T-Rex. If they don't their dinosaur moves back to Start. If they do they pass the T-Rex with their dinosaur. They can then choose to leave the T-Rex in the same spot, switch its position to another spot, or remove it from the Jurassic World: Volcano Escape game board.
The game involves some strategy but isn't too complicated to play. Plus spinning the lava balls through the volcano hoping to hit your opponents' dinosaurs is a blast. An entertaining game for all ages to play makes Jurassic World: Volcano Escape enjoyable for spending family time together.
TOP TRUMPS
Next we played the dinosaur edition of TOP TRUMPS. In this card game a themed deck is shuffled out to players. Themes range from animals and dinosaurs to popular television shows and movies. Each card has unique illustrations, trivia and statistics imprinted on it. The statistics on Top Trumps' cards are used to play out each round of the game.
The player to the left of the dealer picks one of his or her cards that has a statistic with a high number. Each player must toss a card into the middle of the group with the best number in that statistic category they can muster. Whoever has the highest number wins the round and adds all the cards from the middle into their own hand. The person who wins the cards then selects a new one for other players to try and trump. Rounds continue until only one person is left with all the cards.
TOP TRUMPS is both an entertaining card game and an educational tool. The illustrations, trivia and statistics all get kids learning while having fun. As children read through their cards they start thinking about the content contained upon them.
For example, each card in this deck has a different dinosaur shown on it with a description of the creature. From Brachiosaurus to Triceratops the Top Trumps deck contains 30 cards each highlighting a unique dinosaur. Every card though has the same five categories listed on it: height; weight; length; killer rating; intelligence and age. Cards have different numbers assigned to the various statistical categories. So players peruse their cards looking for the best numbers to beat the competition.
Let's play through a round with myself and the kids! I deal out ten cards to each player. So my daughter sitting to the left of me gets to toss out the first Trump card. She plays a Giganotosaurus calling out the category of WEIGHT which her card shows as 17,636 pounds. So my son and I need to try and trump her card with one that has a higher weight.
My son tossed out a Barosaurus with a weight stat of 88,819 pounds. He trumps her card so now the question is can I beat his? The highest weight any of the dinosaurs in my hand has is the 17,636 Pentaceratops. That won't beat my son's card so I toss in a Hypsilophodon that has all low stats including a weight of 110 pounds. The boy wins the round and adds all three cards that were played to his hand.
Winning the round, he then picks a new trump card and selects the category the rest of us need to trump. He selects Coelophysis and picks the age category that identifies how long ago the dinosaur lived on the Earth which is 225 million years ago. My daughter trumps his card with a Herrerasaurus that has an age of 230. Once again I don't have a card in my hand that trumps either if their cards. So I discard another one of my cards that has low scores throughout all the stat categories. The Protoceratops is only 72 million years old and its other stats are on the low side too.
My daughter wins Round 2! The twins now each have 11 cards and I have 8. The game continues until only one person is left holding all the cards. After about a half hour of playing, my son ended up as the TOP TRUMP winning the card game. After he finished his victory dance, the cards were reshuffled and we played a new game.
Beyond the statistics used to play the game, the cards on the dinosaur edition of Top Trump are filled with lots of other interesting information. Each card identifies either the country where a dinosaur's fossils were found or the museum where it is on display. There is a graphic that shows the height of a dinosaur versus that of a human adult and child.
My kids also really liked the Meat-O-Meter at the bottom of each card which identifies the dinosaur as a meat-eater, plant-eater or omnivore (eats both). Combine these features with the dinosaur trivia and illustrations also included upon the cards and you will have kids wanting to flip through the cards just to read them in addition to wanting to play the game.
Top Trumps is a wonderful game to play while spending family time together or for children to play with their friends. Along with Dinosaurs, other Top Trumps decks include Ancient Egypt, Bugs, Countries of the World, DC Comics, Harry Potter, Marvel's Avengers, Shopkins, Star Wars and World Soccer Stars. Overall there are more than 60 themed decks to choose from! Stop by toptrumps.us to check them all out for yourself.
UNTAMED RAPTOR
The kids also had a lot of fun playing with Fingerling UNTAMED toys from WowWee. These finger puppets are designed in the image of Raptor dinosaurs and will interact with you. These animatronic dinosaur toys will react when they are touched.
These UNTAMED raptors have swiveling heads, chomping jaws, and eyes that move giving the appearance that they are alive. Tapping your Raptor's nose or petting the back of its head will cause the dinosaur to give out a warning call, hiss or growl. Sometimes it will even roar!
Shake your Raptor up and down to get it to take a bite at you. Or lay your UNTAMED Raptor in the palm of your hands to get it to fall asleep. It may even start snoring.
Blow a breath of air into its face and you will make it sneeze. Beware though because if you place your hands on the dinosaur's head and butt it will also give out a toot. Dino fart!
If you have multiple Fingerling UNTAMED Raptors together, clap your hands. They will squawk a tune out for you in unison. There are seventeen UNTAMED Raptors to choose from. Take a trek over to untamed.wowwee.com to check out which ones you'd like to have your own dinosaur adventures with.
SNACKING ON DINOSAURS
After trying to rescue dinosaurs from an erupting volcano, trying to be Top Trump in a card game, and trying to tame some Fingerling Raptors, it was time for a snack. Sticking with our theme of the day, I heated up some Yummy Dino Buddies Chicken Breast Nuggets for the kids to fuel up on. It really was a day full of dinosaur fun!
What did you think of our Dinosaur Fun Day? Stay connected with my family's ageekdaddy.com adventures and experiences by following the blog's social media accounts. Give us a LIKE over at our A GEEK DADDY Facebook page. Plus make sure to follow @Geekdad248 on Instagram and Twitter to stay tuned in to everything going on over at ageekdaddy.com
RELATED POSTS
If you enjoyed this post check out these related topics on ageekdaddy.com:
DINOSAUR ROAD TRIP
IMPRESSION 5 AMAZING DINOSAUR EXHIBIT
CRANBROOK INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM
No comments:
Post a Comment