Youngsters learned about prehistoric life close-up when they got their hands on fossils at the National Media Museum.

Children from Bradford primary schools met dinosaur expert Dr Joe Botting from the Leeds Museums and Galleries service, who gave a presentation. Youngsters handled real dinosaur fossils and had their dinosaur questions answered.

The presentation followed a screening of the IMAX film Sea Monsters 3D, which introduced the children to some underwater dinosaurs - on a screen the size of several double-decker buses.

In National Geographic's stunning film, marine reptiles of the dinosaur age are brought to life through a blend of high-resolution 3D graphics and finds from palaeontological digs around the world.

From digs to larger-than-life visions of predatory chases in seas, the audience is taken on a journey by a family of Dolichorhynchops, known as Dollies', traversing ancient waters and encountering other extraordinary sea creatures.

The amazingly life-like creatures created for the film include lizard-like reptiles called Platecarpus that swallow their prey whole like snakes. One of them came to a sorry end when his prey proved bigger than it looked, as the palaeontologists discovered when they unearth his skeleton with the bones of a huge fish stuck inside.

Also splashing towards the audience glory is the Styxosaurus, with a neck 20ft long and paddle-like fins as large as a person; and, at the top of the food chain, is the T-Rex of the ocean, the monstrous Tylosaurus. He emerges from the water with a roar, his snapping jaws coming out at the audience.

The film cuts from reconstructed fossil digs to computer-generated flashbacks of chases through ancient waters, and follows one of the young Dolichorhynchops from birth, as she manages to dodge the ocean's predators to eventually die of old age on the bed of the ocean.

Millions of years later her skeleton, complete with tooth, is discovered, preserved in mud.

Also showing at the museum is the new IMAX film, Lions 3D Road of the Kalahari, bringing audiences face-to-face with nature's fiercest predators.

Filmed in Botswana's Kalajari Desert, the film brings the audience close-up to a battle between a lion king and a young contender.

Audiences will experience the struggle. See today's Play section for details on Lions 3D Roar of the Kalahari which starts at the National Media Museum next week. For details on this, and Sea Monsters 3D: A Prehistoric Adventure, ring 0870 7010200 or visit www.nationalmediamuseum. org.uk