Learning About Fossils & Paleontology!
At the moment I have a very dinosaur-Mary Anning-obsessed little girl and fossil hunting is one of our favourite pastimes (we are so lucky to live close to the Jurassic coast and Isle of Wight) so I wanted to make this topic really fun for the kids and do something a little bit different. I made an edible chocolate cake dig site, A DIY fossil dig kit, Salt dough bones, dinosaur cookies & a shark tooth pendant and a polymer clay model of Mary Anning's Ichthyosaur and our own fossil moulds.
Edible Chocolate Cake Dig Site
This was probably one of the best activities I have ever done for them and to say the kids loved it like crazy would be an extreme understatement! It did take quite a bit of time to prepare though!
what you will need:
- your favourite chocolate cake recipe
- your favourite chocolate frosting
- a plastic container to put your cake in
- dinosaur silicone moulds
- chocolate (I used a mix of white and milk chocolate)
- nuts or caramel pieces
- string
- spoon for digging
- bowls to put their "fossils" in
- a piece of paper
- marker
what to do:
- Prepare your chocolate cake and create two layers by cutting it in half
- make your chocolate dinosaurs
- put your cake into a plastic container and begin hiding your chocolate dinosaurs in different parts of the cake. Press them into it.
- Add chocolate frosting (the dirt/mud) and sprinkle the caramel pieces (rocks/pebbles) on top
- now take some string and create a 3x4 grid
- draw a picture of the grid on your piece of paper to give to them
- now present the challenge and dig site to your little palaeontologists!
DIY Fossil Dig Kit
we've done several of these over the years but they are so pricey online and you don't really get any good fossils so I thought I'd have a go at making my own by ordering some fossils individually and creating my own little mix of treasure. Again this takes a bit of preparation although you could make it with the kids but I wanted it to be a surprise.
what you will need:
- lots of fossils
- plaster of paris powder
- bowl
- a tinfoil pie mould
- water
- digging tools
- cookie sheet
what to do:
- Combine equal parts Plaster of Paris and water in a bowl and mix. once ready pour into your moulds
- now add your fossils. I allowed a little time in-between adding fossils so that it would harden a little so they would appear in different layers.
- let it set overnight
- flip the mould over and now your DIY excavation kit is finished!
Salt Dough Dinosaur Bones
This ended up being such a great idea and provided hours and hours of imaginary play. We created our own dig site at the beach and even afterwards at home in the garden they were pretending to be palaeontologists digging for fossils.
what you will need:
- Dinosaur sand moulds
- Salt
- flour
- water
- baking sheet
- baking tray
what to do:
- first make your salt dough by adding two cups flour and 1 cup salt
- gradually add in the water stirring and mixing to form a dough that is a bit drier than playdough
- form the dough into a ball and knead for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and firm. Additional water may be needed but if it's too sticky add more flour.
- put the dough into the moulds to make your shape
- bake in the oven at 130c for 30-60min checking regularly
- now go out and have fun with it creating dig sites wherever you fancy!
Vegan Dinosaur Fossil Cookies
for these I used a delicious chocolate sugar cookie recipe from Loving It Vegan (my go to for vegan treats) and dinosaur cookie cutters I found on etsy.
A Shark Tooth Pendant
On one of our fossil hunting outings at Highcliffe Beach we found some shark teeth and decided to turn one into a pendant using a non mix resin
Mary Anning's Ichthyosaur
We spent a lot of time learning and reading about Mary Anning, visiting one of our favourite places; Lyme Regis where she grew up and became famous and also the Natural History Museum in London to see some of her finds. We wanted to make something out of polymer clay so we decided on making our own mini replica of her Ichthyosaur.
Making Our Own Fossil Moulds
what you will need:
- Plaster of paris
- a bowl
- fossils
- clay or plasticine
what to do:
- First make your fossil moulds by pressing your fossil into the clay and carefully lifting it back out
- prepare your plaster of paris mixture by equal parts powder and water
- fill the holes up with the mixture
- wait for it to set. maybe an hour or two.
- and you have your replica fossils
