Walking around the gallery full of ancient fossils, dinosaur models and toys, they breezily rhyme off four-syllable dinosaur names and casually list each creature's characteristics.

Clearly these kids know their stuff. And they no longer have to travel to a bigger centre to see billion-year-old fossils and other ancient relics.

Some items from Alexander's collection: Woolly mammoth hair, fossilized dinosaur eggs, 55-million-year-old feathers.

He's spent 30 years collecting the 1,000 fossils on display.

"It was time to put it somewhere," he says.

His goal is to display fossils that are millions -- even billions -- of years old next to similar species still alive today. "So people realize everything doesn't go extinct."

Alexander also boasts Canada's largest dinosaur toy collection. "If anyone wants to dispute me, I'd love to meet them." The toy collection includes a pterodactyl kite, dinosaur rubber boots, cereal boxes, hundreds of toy dinosaurs and fridge magnets. Tucked away on a shelf is every Far Side comic about dinosaurs ever published.

"I'm a 12-year-old boy trapped in a 51-year-old-man's body."