Naturkundemuseum, Karlsruhe, April 2025

Our exploration of the world of dinosaurs and underwater creatures continued in the exhibition rooms of the State Museum of Natural History in Karlsruhe. Our conversations inspired by the prints, paintings and small models in the "Seeing Truth" show got fueled by numerous aquariums featuring biological life of tropical rivers and oceans. My daughter had the opportunity to match her knowledge of ocean layers, ie. Sunlight Zone; Twilight Zone; Midnight Zone and The Abyss (thanks to both her Octonauts euphoria and her topical Yoto Cards) with actual creatures occupying these spaces, right in front of her eyes. We saw sea horses, sea stars, boxfish, octopuses, angelfish, morays, jellyfish and of course, sharks just to name her highlights. The institution did a great job in levelling the displays to children height and provide additional layer of immersion through little steps, scattered around the exhibition space.

Our journey through the display of prehistoric times was the perfect addition to her recent excitement about dinosaurs. Understanding the features and especially the scale of these animals was both fascinating and scary to her, however did not diminish her motivation in wanting to listen to her Yoto Card on the topic. The fossils we saw, from 300 million years ago found in Germany were contextualised by the background paintings, visualising potential prehistoric habitats, while models of reptiles and mammals surrounded us, no matter which direction we took. The display - opposed to what I am used to from natural history museums - was not crowded, but allowed for exploration from multiple angles and time to breath between exhibit A and exhibit B, hence making it not too overwhelming for my daughter. There was still a lot more to discover, so once she will express her interest on plants, insects and rocks, we will be back for another round of knowledge fueling experience.

Our source of reference material back home remained the same, as after our exhibition visit to the "Seeing Truth" show: books, audiobooks and toys exploring dinosaurs and life under water.

Books:

• Nicola Davies: Surprising Sharks

• Nicola Davies: Big Blue Whale

• Vivian French: T.Rex

• Tolki: Dinoszauruszok

• Wieso Weshalb Warum: Dinosaurier

• Katie Daynes: Gab es Dinos wirklich?

• Valerie Thomas: Winnie´s Dinosaur Day

• Was ist das? Sehen und lernen!: Das Meer

• Meomi: Octonauts book series

• Kiss Ottó: A Piros Tengeralattjáró

Toys:

• Schleich and non-Schleich Dinos

• Sarah´s Silk

• Georgie Porgy Children's Projector Torch: Marine Life

Audio:

• (MYO) Spotify Podcast: "Deep Blue Sea"

• (MYO) Ladybird Audio Adventures: "Dinosaur Times"

• (MYO) Ladybird Audio Adventures: "Deep Sea Dive"

• (Yoto) BrainBots: Our Planet "Oceans"

• (Yoto) BrainBots: Our Planet "Volcanoes"