In the past two months we’ve visited both the American Museum of Natural History in New York and the California Academy of Sciences here in the Bay Area. Both experiences were formative for our three year old and she frequently talks the magical things we saw there (dinosaur bones! penguins! (stuffed) lions! fish!).

Yesterday she announced that she needed a map for her upcoming (pretend) museum trip and so we immediately set about making one.

I was there for spelling help and letter forming support.

She picked the animals, designed the museum layout, and drew it herself (except for one word that I wrote, but I bet you spotted that one already!).

In our daughter’s world dinosaurs are alive and well, my friends. After reading the classic I Can Read Book, Danny and the Dinosaur, there was so convincing her that they are extinct. If Danny can ride a dinosaur around town, than so can my daughter.

After all, as I am frequently reminded, you can do anything in your imagination.