65 million years ago dinosaurs ruled the world, now they are back...

Roboraptors stalking the cat and plastic brontosauruses watching the goldfish. Woodcut Tyrannosaurus Rexes running down a 3d triceratops while a pack of velociraptors close in for the kill. These are the dinosaurs of today. Beautifully crafted masterpieces that never grow old just. They just end up discarded and forgotten, to be replaced by a later model.

Now, dinosaurs are everywhere, on T-shirts, under the kid's bed and on the walls as giant posters. For the jigsaw puzzler there are any number of beautiful dinosaur pictures to be painstakingly put back together. In either wood or cardboard.

Dinosaurs have reemerged from their extinction. They were lying dormant in the backs of our minds until 1993. This was the year the classic movie Jurassic Park woke us up, creating Dinosaur mania that changed the world of dinosaurs forever. Dinosaurs were now back in vogue.

It only took to the third movie, and then in that movie the kid was playing with little plastic dinosaurs. Actually they were the same ones I had brought for my kid. Excellent dinosaurs, realistic little things, good for the sand pit. Virtually indestructible except the paint fades.

Now, there is a new species of dinosaur competing with the electronic world for the kid's affection and attention.

Roborapter is the latest in this range. A beautiful sleek-looking creature in black or white. A cross between a futuristic robot and a 65 million year old carnivore that can stalk across your living room floor. Another futuristic creature look-a-like that is slightly innovative is Lego's latest Wild Hunters. Something that resembles the world of tomorrow here today.

Our renewed love affair with dinosaurs has turned them from meat eating beasts to loveable soft toys for baby to sleep on. Something that has been extinct for 65 million years has revived our interest in what life was like for our ancestors.

We have the Imaginext series; Thunder the Brontosaurus and Razor the T-Rex plus a few others, all complete with saddles and other accessories. These dinosaurs with little action jockey cave men figures are all ready to race through the primeval forest.

They come complete with batteries so they can roar and a good crank on the tail sends their heads and arms shaking. These beautifully colored, realistically looking, moving and roaring dinosaurs have invaded our living rooms. Now they hide on the sofa and behind cushions to jump out at unsuspecting travelers that are bold enough to venture out onto the sofa in broad daylight.

Another series that changes history is the B.C. Toys Little Tikes series of dinosaur demolition machines, similar to the cartoon dinosaurs in the Fred Flintstone TV show from more than a few years ago.

The quarry will never be the same, and the sand pit just got better to play in.

Here we have a Triceratops Dump Truck complete with little rocks to dump, as well as an Apatosaurus Wreaking Ball with a tower to knock down. There are more demolition dinos in the series to recreate the wrecking world of the very distant past. These amazing, fully articulated dinos are able to make greeting and working sounds while the kids play make believe in the sand pit. Some even have wheels on their feet so they can move around.

The range of dinosaur toys is getting more and more imaginative. Meaning the kids just love them more and hopefully will play with them a bit longer. Kids these days are lucky. I never had anything like that when I was growing up. And back then I loved dinosaurs.