Dino Discovery Trail at St David’s Dewi Sant shopping centre in Cardiff Easter 2023

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Dino Discovery Trail St David's Cardiff

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Dinosaurs and toy bricks. Two big favourites in this house. So you can imagine the excitement at the news that BrickLive’s Dino Discovery Trail has arrived in Cardiff’s St David’s Dewi Sant centre in time for the Easter holidays.

An incredible 15 dinosaur sculptures are making the centre their home this Easter, with the herd constructed using an incredible half a million toy bricks.

We were among the first to see them, heading into the city centre bright and early this morning, where they were already getting a lot of attention from shoppers of all ages… and not just the kids.

Head to the Cardiff Mummy Says Instagram account for a video Reel of how we got on searching for dinosaurs

Dino Discovery Trail St David's Cardiff

The sculptures took a team of 20 designers and master builders over 3,000 hours to create, painstakingly building them one brick at a time. And the results are incredible, with inspiring brick sculptures that will leave you in awe at the skill of their creators. The attention to detail, from jaws to claws, tails and spikes, is truly amazing.

If you’re wandering around the centre you’re certain to come across one of the dinosaurs sooner or later. But to take full advantage of the trail, head to the Guest Services counter on the first floor (near Stradavarius) to pick up a map, and a free dino hat, which will show you exactly where the dinosaurs are located on both levels of the centre. There’s also room on the map to write in the names of the dinosaurs so you can keep track of what you’ve found.

Highlights include a 7ft tall Parasaurolophus made from 113, 625 bricks and a 12-ft long velociraptor made with 46,352 bricks. We also loved the mochlodon, in a fetching shade of purple, and the bright blue and green velociraptor (because for all we know dinosaurs could well have been brightly coloured).

Dino Discovery Trail St David's Cardiff

We loved that each of the dinosaurs comes complete with a fact sheet, detailing something interesting about the creature, as well as stats on how many bricks were used, how long they took to make and how much they weigh (a whopping 444kg in the case of the Parasaurolophus). Each dino also been given its own human name, which my children loved as some of them had the names of their friends.

There are plenty of photo opportunities for children. As well as being able to pose in front of the dinosaurs themselves, there’s also an egg smaller children can climb into, a dino mouth you can poke your head through, and a picture of two dino explorers made entirely of toy bricks, with room for your children to pop their heads through.

If you don’t want any spoilers, stop reading now, as I’ve included photos of all the dinosaurs below for those who can’t make it (or perhaps who can’t wait!) to see them in person.

Bricklive’s Dino Discovery Trail is at St David’s Dewi Sant Cardiff from Monday 3 to Sunday 16 April 2023 and is free to visit. For more information see the FOR Cardiff website.

For more ideas of family-friendly events in and around Cardiff over the Easter holidays, see this post: 80+ family-friendly events in and around Cardiff for the Easter holidays 2023

I regularly share ideas for days out as well as reviews and previews of forthcoming events on the Cardiff Mummy Says Facebook page , as well as Cardiff Mummy Says Instagram and on Twitter @cardiffmummy Do follow me to be the first to know what’s going on locally.

SPOILER ALERT: The dinosaur sculptures in full

Dino Discovery Trail St David's Cardiff

Dino Discovery Trail St David's Cardiff
Dino Discovery Trail St David's Cardiff
Dino Discovery Trail St David's Cardiff
Dino Discovery Trail St David's Cardiff
Dino Discovery Trail St David's Cardiff
Dino Discovery Trail St David's Cardiff
Dino Discovery Trail St David's Cardiff
Dino Discovery Trail St David's Cardiff
Dino Discovery Trail St David's Cardiff
Dino Discovery Trail St David's Cardiff
Dino Discovery Trail St David's Cardiff

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