I took a class on Dinosaurs in my freshman year of college, and I helped create a board game about European dinosaurs in the Late Jurassic. I created four clay dinosaurs to use as moving pieces.
Brachiosaur
One of the more famous sauropods, brachiosaurs were known for their long front limbs. As you can see, brachiosaurs showcased the elongated necks and small heads common to their class of dinosaur. Sauropod necks were architectual wonders, and their noses were on the tops of their heads in order to save space and weight.
Compsognathus
Compy's were in that opening scene of Jurassic Park 2, where the girl gets eaten by little dinosaurs. Cute scene.
These guys were tiny... they were three feet long, but most of that is neck and tail. They only stood about a foot off the ground. It's estimated that they weighed around six pounds each... less than I weighed as a baby (then again, I was a heavy baby).
Dracopelta
Dracopelta was the European, Late Jurassic variant of the ankylosaur, the armored tanks of the dinosaur world.
Archaeopteryx
The archaoepteryx was one of the first feathered dinosaurs found. These days, it's theorized that many dinosaurs, especially bipedal predators (raptors, tyranosaurus, etc) had feathers, or at least early variations of feathers.
It's also theorized that birds and dinosaurs are not just related- dinosaurs, apparently, were birds, and birds, apparently, are dinosaurs. Take another look at the next parakeet you see. Check out those claws, the eyes. You can see it there, the dinosaur behind the feathers.
I sold the dinosaurs to a man in Chicago for his kindergarten son, who is a big fan of dinosaurs in general.
