Dinosaur onesie: for kids, babies… and their parents too

A dinosaur onesie is chosen first and foremost by who's going to wear it: a child of 80 to 145 cm, a baby under 4 or a grown-up. The shop offers three: the Kids' Plush Animal Onesie as a red or green dinosaur, the Baby Animal Kigurumi in seven dinosaurs of different colours, and the Family Fleece Onesie, whose dinosaur comes in kids', women's and men's sizes. Here are a few dinosaur facts for bedtime reading, then the sizes for each style, washing and safety tips.

Dinosaurs: what you can tell children at bedtime

The word "dinosaur" was coined in 1842 by the English palaeontologist Richard Owen, from two Greek words meaning "terrible" and "lizard" (Wikipedia (French), "Dinosauria").

According to the same page, dinosaurs appeared around 240 million years ago and almost all of them died out 66 million years ago. Not all of them vanished: birds descend from small meat-eating dinosaurs and are considered dinosaurs. So the blackbird in your garden is one. Another surprise for little ones: while the biggest dinosaurs are among the heaviest animals ever to have lived on land, many were no bigger than a human, and some were smaller than a hen.

Photo: Jim Linwood / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

To see real fossils, France's National Museum of Natural History (Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle) displays its palaeontology collections in an 80-metre-long gallery, opened in 1898 in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris (MNHN, "Galerie de Paléontologie et d'Anatomie comparée"). The photo of the triceratops skull above was taken in that gallery.

The kids' dinosaur onesie: red or green, from 100 to 140

The Kids' Plush Animal Onesie comes in two dinosaurs, red and green, in all five sizes of the range, from 100 to 140. They're among the onesie's eighteen styles, alongside the unicorns, the sharks, the panda and the capybara.

According to the product page, each style has:

• thick, plush fleece flannel, for the living room in the evening as well as for night-time under the duvet;
• the animal's ears or horns on the hood, and a contrasting tummy;
• two hidden pockets at the sides;
• a zip or button fastening depending on the style, with an opening at the back for going to the loo without taking everything off.

The size is chosen by the child's height, measured standing up and barefoot:

Lots of parents search for a "dinosaur onesie for 3 to 6-year-olds". At those ages, two children can need different sizes: a 5-year-old who is 108 cm tall takes a 110, another at 116 cm a 120. Our guide kids' kigurumi: what age, what size, what precautions explains what to do if the child is between two sizes. The slippers seen in the photos aren't included.

The baby dinosaur onesie: seven colours, from 0–6 months to 4 years

The Baby Animal Kigurumi includes seven dinosaurs (meadow green, midnight blue, red, apple green, pink, forest green and sky blue) and two dragons, green and red, from size 0–6 months to size 4 years.

The hood carries the animal's face: padded snout, appliqué eyes, sewn-on ears or horns. Most styles also have a ridge of spikes or a tail on the back, the product page notes. The flannel is soft and light, lined with the same fabric, the zip runs down the front and the cuffs fold over to cover the littlest ones' hands. Unlike the Kids' Plush Animal Onesie, this style is chosen by the child's age: it's true to size.

Photo: MEpps (WMF) / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

This kigurumi is daytime wear, for playing, having family round or taking photos. For night-time, France's national health insurance (Assurance Maladie) recommends putting a baby to sleep on their back, in their own cot, in a suitable baby sleeping bag, with no pillow, duvet, blanket or cot bumper, in a room at 18–20 °C (ameli.fr, "Comment bien coucher un bébé ?"). Our article on matching parent-and-baby pyjamas goes over these rules for family photos.

The adult dinosaur onesie: the Family Fleece Onesie

For a grown-up, the shop's dinosaur onesie is the Family Fleece Onesie, in women's sizes S to XL and men's sizes L to 3XL. It's the only dinosaur style in adult sizes.

It's a one-piece in thick, plush fleece, with a full-length zip, the animal's ears on the hood and an appliqué paw on the front pocket. The cut is loose, with long sleeves and straight legs. The product page describes it as winter loungewear, not as a party costume.

Women's L and XL cover the same height: use weight to decide between them. If dinosaurs aren't your thing, our article adult animal onesies: which animal should you choose? runs through the other onesies for grown-ups.

The whole family as dinosaurs

The Family Fleece Onesie lets you dress parents and children as the same dinosaur: it also comes in kids' sizes, from 8 to 16, for heights of 90 to 145 cm.

Each product listing is for a single onesie. For a family of four, choose "Dinosaur", then add each size to your basket, one after the other. With a baby under 90 cm, there are two options: the baby kigurumi in one of its seven dinosaurs, or another animal from the same family onesie (panda, ginger tiger, brown bear or capybara) for everyone. Our ideas for matching family Christmas pyjamas offer more inspiration for the Christmas Eve photo.

Washing a dinosaur onesie without damaging the hood

All three styles are machine washable and air dried, but not on the same programme: 30 °C on a delicate cycle for the Family Fleece Onesie and the baby kigurumi, a normal cycle or hand wash for the Kids' Plush Animal Onesie.

To keep the hood and the details in shape:

• Turn the onesie inside out and do up the zip before washing: the hood rubs less against the drum.
• Wash with soft textiles, no jeans or terry towels, which make fleece pill.
• Dry flat or on a hanger, in the open air, as the product pages say.

Our article how to wash and care for fleece pyjamas details the habits that keep flannel soft for longer.

Safety tips with a fleece onesie

A roomy fleece onesie is worn well away from flames, whatever the age of the person wearing it. The London Fire Brigade reminds us never to place a candle near anything that can catch fire, clothing included, to keep flames out of children's reach, and presents LED candles as a safer alternative (London Fire Brigade, "Candles"). At a dinosaur-themed birthday party, an adult keeps the sleeves and hood at a distance when it's time to blow out the candles.

At night, a child old enough to sleep under a duvet can keep their dinosaur onesie on, hood down at the back and without piling on extra covers: the fleece already keeps them warm. If you went a size up, roll up the bottoms of the legs so they don't trip over them on the stairs.

In short

For a child of 80 to 140 cm, the Kids' Plush Animal Onesie comes as a red or green dinosaur, chosen by height. For a baby, the Baby Animal Kigurumi offers seven dinosaurs, from 0–6 months to 4 years, to be worn while awake. For grown-ups, and to dress the whole family as the same animal, the Family Fleece Onesie comes as a dinosaur from Kids 8 to Men 3XL. Every style is in the shop, with free delivery.

Cover photo: Selmoval / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)