The Pebble Pile — Dinosaurs for Kids

The Pebble Pile is the kids’ corner of the RockPile, and it is one of the oldest parts of this site — it goes back to the 1990s, when Bosco’s RockPile first went online. Back then it carried one standing invitation: send your dinosaur drawing to Bosco, and he may put it up in the Pebble Pile.

Kids did. Their drawings lived on this page for years, and they belong here still.

The original Pebble Pile gallery

Child's crayon drawing of a dinosaur under a bright sun — Manasa and Pramod

Child's marker drawing of a long-necked dinosaur in red and purple — Kimi

Child's colorful drawing of a standing dinosaur in blue, yellow, and orange — Emily

Child's drawing of a green running dinosaur, signed Scott — Scott

Child's drawing of a green armored dinosaur with an orange outline — Scott

The invitation still stands: draw a dinosaur, and have a grown-up send it in through the contact page. First names only, just like always.

For young explorers

A short, current list — every link checked and working. Two of these survive from the original Pebble Pile list, decades on.

Zoom Dinosaurs (Enchanted Learning) — the classic kids’ dinosaur encyclopedia, an original Pebble Pile link still going strong.
Dinosaurs: Facts and Fiction (USGS) — straight answers to the questions kids actually ask, from the U.S. Geological Survey. Also an original Pebble Pile link.
Getting Into the Fossil Record (UC Berkeley UCMP) — how a bone becomes a fossil.
Dino Directory (Natural History Museum, London) — over 300 dinosaurs, sorted and illustrated. The same museum where the Stegosaurus Bosco helped excavate is on display.
Science News Explores — real science news written for young readers.
Dinosaur National Monument — see about 1,500 real dinosaur bones still in the rock wall where they were found.

Ready to dig for real?

When drawing dinosaurs turns into wanting to find one, see Where to Dig — real excavations that welcome families, from someone who spent his summers in the quarries.