Hop over 600 Million years with this Giant Timeline

When we go to our local childrens’ museum, the first place we usually hit is the dinosaur exhibit. At first, these big bones creatures were a source of fright for my daughter, but it didn’t take long to quickly turned into a source of intrigue and wonder.

“Mom, these animals were really living once?” I’ve heard many times.

What I’ve also heard is: “Where did they go?” or “What happened to them?”

If you’re not lucky enough to have a museum with real dino bones to visit (or even if you are), you’re going to want to take that learning home with the Giant Evolution Timeline Playmat ($49) by Charlie’s Playhouse.

Founded by a scientist mom, she came up with the idea for the mat after she was unable to find fun, educational tools to teach her two sons about the evolution and the time-line of the Earth.

What is the playmat exactly? At first glance, it looks like a large coffee table book. When unfolded, it’s 18 feet of of amazing illustrations – depicting the history of life. The playmat can be walked on (nothing like skipping over 18 feet and through 600 million years), read like a big book or stood up on it side to create a “history fort” of sorts.

We love the mat because it goes beyond the dinosaurs everybody already knows about and has included less famous creatures like the huge Leedsichthys or the flying Dimorphodon, just to name a few.

Made of high quality green materials, this mat is not only cleanable but very eco-friendly. So friendly in fact that it was voted one of Mr. Toys “Best Green Products” of 2009.

GET YOUR OWN! The Giant Evolution Timeline Playmat (recommended for the +4 year old crowd) sells for $49 and can be purchased online. This would make an awesome educational gift or tool for the homeschooling family.

WIN YOUR OWN! We have a playmat to give away to one lucky Simple reader. To enter, visit the Charlie’s Playhouse website, come back here and leave a comment letting us know how you would use this product to teach your curious kid about the animals of long, long, ago.

Additional entries (comment for each additional entry):

• Blog about this contest linking back to Simple Reviews and Charlie’s Playhouse.
• Become a new follower to Simple Reviews.
• Tweet this giveaway! Please include us in the tweet – we’re @simplereviews

Winner will be randomly chosen and notified October 16th, 2009. Good Luck!