Download Mock Fossil Dig

MOCK FOSSIL DIG
Things You'll Need
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Sand
Bowl
Plaster of Paris
Styrofoam Cup
Water
Plastic dinosaurs
Spoon
Stick
Notebook
Pencil
Camera
Cuticle stick
Paintbrush
Instructions
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1 Measure equal parts of sand and plaster of Paris into a bowl. Add water to the mixture slowly, mixing it as
you pour it. The consistency will be thick but fluid. Pour one-third of the mixture into a large Styrofoam cup.
Center a plastic dinosaur in the cup, pushing it down into the plaster mixture. Pour the rest of the plaster into the
cup. The dinosaur should be completely covered. Make as many dinosaur molds as you need. Let them dry for
at least two days. Peel the cup off of the molds.
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2 Discuss how to work like an archaeologist by reading or viewing videos. Show students how to take careful
notes, show the exact location of a find, and draw everything just like they find it. Encourage students to work
carefully, making good notes as they go.
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3 Turn the earth in a 4-foot square in the schoolyard. Bury the dinosaur molds. Vary the depths. Walk over the
ground and make sure there is no sign to show where you buried the dinosaurs. Give children a plastic or
wooden spoon and send them out on their first archaeological dig.
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4 Use the cuticle stick and paintbrush and carefully dig away the plaster/sand mixture.
**The outside dig may be omitted if time does not permit. Use the plastering part to help the students visualize how
fossils are formed (i.e., an organism dies, then it is buried in soil and sediment/mud, the soil/sediment/mud hardens,
etc.).