Finding Fossils: Learning Fossil Formation

Description

Rosie and Watsie successfully created a time machine to go on vacation a universe away, with the dinosaurs. There’s only one small problem, Watsie accidentally trips a dinosaur into a swamp. Of course, not all is lost, because now Watsie knows where a great fossil can be found. Join us as we learn about paleontology, fossil formation, and stratigraphy.

What’s included:

Lab Books
There is one lab book for our Fossil Find Lab with a folder of add on activities to help scale it to your child’s age and interest! Tabloid versions of the labs are available if you want to print the labs on 11×17 paper to make each lab into its own folder.

Add-on Activities
Our goal is to enrich the lives of young scientists, and our add-on activities are ideas to build upon the principles and science we learn throughout the mystery. The Add-on folder is split into various grade levels with age appropriate ideas, instructions and worksheets for them! This unit’s add on activities include:

• Jello Amber Fossils: Create a delicious treat while keeping the idea of fossils on their minds.
• Candy Amber Fossils: Make your own hard candy with candy bugs inside, then think about the time and life of the bug as you eat it.
• Fossil timelines: Cut and paste, label and draw the process of fossilization in a variety of fun, colorful worksheets.
• Making fossils: Create your own playdoh to make a mold, cast, and trace fossils from.
• Learning stratigraphy: Cut and paste layers of rock to learn how paleontologists use rock layers to date fossil finds.
• Dating with stratigraphy: Learn what layers contain the youngest artifacts, and which contain the oldest.
• Gummy worm fossil fuels: Make your own fossil fuels with gummy worms and break.
• Fossil matching game: Learn the vocabulary while matching terminology to photos in a fun game of memory.

Parent Guides
There are written parent teacher guides that will give you some quick tips and tricks to troubleshoot issues you might run into, tell you the broad takeaway from the lab, help you brainstorm questions to ask and give you some additional resources!

Scaling Guides
The scaling guides will help you think of ways to expand on the concepts in age-appropriate activities, while the sourcing guides will help you find everything we bought for the lab! This lab doesn’t need much though, an imagination, corn starch, and playdoh!

Applications
Lastly, there is our In Real Life download. This download will help you connect the concepts we work with in the labs to everyday life. It will help you guide your kids to understanding why osmosis is important and what the big takeaway of the lab is as well as safety precautions! Learn how rocket science impacts your everyday life!

Worried about knowing the science behind the mystery?
Check out our parent teacher videos online to see the full lab as we answer a variety of questions you might have!