Fossil Fun!
What You Need:
What You Need:
- Modeling clay
- Shells, clean chicken bones, twigs, leaves, etc.
- A paper plate
- Paper and pencils
- A fossil loving friend or family member
Question: How are fossils made?
1) First, flatten the modeling clay onto the paper plate. Smooth the surface with your fingertips .
2) Then, press objects into the clay so that they leave a print. You can use things like shells, leaves and clean chicken bones.
3) Trade your clay impressions with a fossil loving friend or family member.
4) Challenge each other to identify or name the objects.
5) Congratulations! You’re now a junior paleontologist! (That’s someone who studies fossils.)
A Scientific Explanation:
One way in which a fossil forms is when the remains of a plant or animal settles into mud. Then layers of sand and dirt quickly cover these remains. When the remains decay a print of the plant or animal is left as a fossil. Fossils are clues as to what prehistoric animals such as dinosaurs were once like .
EXTRA! EXTRA!
How do you think dinosaurs left footprints that lasted hundreds of millions of years?
1) First, flatten the modeling clay onto the paper plate. Smooth the surface with your fingertips .
2) Then, press objects into the clay so that they leave a print. You can use things like shells, leaves and clean chicken bones.
3) Trade your clay impressions with a fossil loving friend or family member.
4) Challenge each other to identify or name the objects.
5) Congratulations! You’re now a junior paleontologist! (That’s someone who studies fossils.)
A Scientific Explanation:
One way in which a fossil forms is when the remains of a plant or animal settles into mud. Then layers of sand and dirt quickly cover these remains. When the remains decay a print of the plant or animal is left as a fossil. Fossils are clues as to what prehistoric animals such as dinosaurs were once like .
EXTRA! EXTRA!
How do you think dinosaurs left footprints that lasted hundreds of millions of years?
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