Making Fossils

All kids love fossils, but finding real fossils isn't exactly feasible. Knowing that struggling learners do best with hands-on learning, here are some simple yet fun activities to learn about fossils. 

Digging for Bones

This activity occurred to me after a meal of chicken and rice. Instead of feeding the bones to my dog, I saved the chicken leg bones, washed them, and let them dry. Once dry, I saved them for this activity, and my boys loved it!

What you'll need:

• dried bones (from chicken or other meat)
• container(s) (1 per student)
• dirt or sand
• painting brush

Before class, I took some dirt from my garden, scooped some into a small container, and buried the chicken bones in various layers (so they weren't all in one spot). 

Since I knew this might be a messy experience, we did our activity outside. The boys used the stick-end of a small painting brush to dig away some of the dirt. Once they discovered a bone, they used the brush-end to clean it off. 

Making a Fossilized Item

Making our own fossils turned out to be just as fun!

What you'll need:

• air-dry model clay 
• a small item to fossilize

 Air-dry model clay works best for this. (In years past, we've tried Play-Dough but it didn't turn out as well.) Each student/child will need a small toy or item that they would like to fossilize.

1. Flatten out a piece of the clay
2. Press the item into the clay, then pull it out carefully
3. Let dry

The package of our air-dry clay said it would take 24 hours to dry. Ours took much longer before it was completely hard! (Although that could have been because our house was really cool during that period of time.) 

Once the clay is dried, you now have a mold. To create a cast of your mold, press some new clay into your mold (ONLY if the mold is completely dry!). Make sure the clay is large enough to cover your mold. Once you've pressed your new clay into the mold, carefully pull it out. You should now have a perfect cast of your item. (At least, on one side.) 

Making a Fossilized Leaf

What you'll need:

• air-dry model clay
• a leaf
• paint
• paint brush

As with the fossilized item, simply flatten out a piece of clay and carefully press your leaf into the clay. Pressing the bottom of the leaf into the clay might work best so the lines are more noticeable. Remove the leaf. You should now have a fossilized design.

Once the clay is dry, you can paint it green (or any other color) so that the lines are more easily seen. 

The boys loved doing these simple activities, especially when they used their Lego men to create fossils. Feel free to use these activities for your own classroom or home and adapt as needed. 

Enjoy!