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Make Your Own Fossil

© Merrideth Chenoweth

Difficulty Level: Easy

Fossils are plants or animals that lived in the past and have been preserved in rocks. Geologists (scientists who study rocks and the earth) search for fossils to learn more about what the earth used to be like.

Today we're going to be amateur geologists and make our own fossils!

Supplies:

• Soil

• Water

• Containers to mix soil and water

• Spoon for stirring

• Fossil items like leaves, small snail or sea shells, pieces of wood, or nuts in their shells.

• Wax paper

• Cookie sheet

Directions:

1. Place the wax paper on the cookie sheet.

2. Fill a container halfway with soil.

3. Mix some water with the soil until you get a thick mud that can be shaped by hand.

4. Gently mix the fossil item into the mud.

5. Pour the mud onto the wax paper and form a mud pie. Make sure the fossil item(s) are totally hidden in the mud.

6. Put the cookie sheet outside in the sun or on a warm window sill so the mud pies can dry.

7. When your mud pies are completely dry, carefully break one open with your hands and see what a fossil looks like.

When you opened your fossil and looked at the imprint left behind, what did you think? What do you think geologists learn from looking at these impressions? Want to learn more? Click on a link below to learn more about fossils and geologists!

Web Links

Fossils, Rocks, and Time, from the USGS. This online booklet is a marvelous introduction (in non-technical language) to how geologists study fossils to learn about the earth's history. http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/fossils/content... Royal Ontario Museum:

Fossils. For elementary students, the Royal Ontario Museum presents the who, how, where, why and when of invertebrate fossils. http://www.rom.on.ca/quiz/fossil/

Dinosaur Dig. This site has great information written for children about fossils, and how to find and identify fossils near them. http://www.sdnhm.org/kids/fossils/index....

Don't forget to rate this project. One star for didn't like it at all through five stars for totally awesome project!

Note from Mary

Kids: I have terrific news. Merrideth will be writing the topic Fun Projects for Kids, starting February 1, 2005. In the meantime, I will be featuring some of her projects as guest articles in and around Kids' Korner. Welcome, Merrideth. We're looking forward to having you as part of the Kids' Korner writing team.

Photo Resource: "Classroom Clipart"

The copyright of the article Make Your Own Fossil in Science for Kids is owned by Mary M. Alward. Permission to republish Make Your Own Fossil in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.