::: paleontologists at work
When we started discussing fossils last week, what they are, how they are found and who does the finding, the children loved the thought of being a paleontologist. So we thought, “OK, let’s give it a go!!”
After reading the story ‘Amanda’s Dinosaur’ by Wendy Orr we thought it would be fun for the children to create their own fossilized eggs.
We supplied balls of tacky clay …
along with a variety of mini dinos, shells, stones and other small articles of interest.
The children buried their selected item deep into the middle of the clay…
and molded it into an egg shapes.
To make them more rock-like, we popped the finished balls out on the window ledge in the sun to dry out.
The next day, armed with hammers, large nails and brushes, we explained to the children how carefully the fossils needed to be uncovered to prevent them being destroyed …
then they chipped …
ever so carefully …
and brushed away …
still so carefully until …
they discovered …
their fossils!!
Most children chose to chip all the clay away …
and clean up their fossil …
while a few preferred to leave a little of the clay behind …
like the fossils they’d seen pictures of in our science books!
Of course we expected some children would be a little enthusiastic, causing their fossils to be damaged or destroyed, however, to the great delight of all of us, our budding paleontologists did such a careful job that 100% of fossils were successfully uncovered with out any damage!
And of course the fun didn’t end with the discovery of the fossils …
there was still plenty of fun to be had with the left over clay …
pounding it into dust!
What excitement … and so much FUN!
This looks like such fun! And using so many different types of skills. Lots of good learning!
Wow!!! I have died and gone to heaven finding this idea! The left over clay with the imprint is just fabulous!! Thank you.
Just tried this activity and it was a real success – i loved the literacy starting point as well!!
We did this with our Kinder & Year one class during developmental play. They loved it!!!
I’d love to do this with our preschoolers. I’m from Canada and not familiar with tacky clay. Is it different from regular clay? Thanks!
::: Terri ‘tacky’ clay is no different to regular clay we just made it ‘tacky’ by adding water to soften it up!
What a wonderful,fun and educational activity! My kids wanted to be paleontologists at this age, which I’m sure is why I thought of the idea for Amanda’s Dinosaur – but I never thought of doing something like this with them. Thanks for sharing
Wendy Orr
::: Wendy your delightful book lead to lots of wonderful learning opportunities about dinosaurs, fossils and paleontologists with our children. Thank you for writing such a wonderful book to quench the thirst of so many 5 year olds fascination with dinosaurs!
