Joy School - Fossils

Fossils! So much fun to learn about fossils!

Lesson:

Our host mom taught us that fossils allow us learn about things that are gone off the earth, like dinosaurs. Then she taught us that the bones of the dinosaurs got covered up with dirt and then the bones were squeezed so hard by the dirt and soil that they started to get hard and turn into rock.

This is us squeezing our hands as tight as we could. But we still can't squeeze them as hard as the fossils were.

Science Time:

We learned about impressions and how many fossils we have are impressions of footprints, plant leaves, or bones. How did we learn about this? By making fossil cookies!

You can find the recipe here. (Thanks, Martha)

Once the dough is formed, you press a small (washed) toy dinosaur into the dough and freeze it for 20 minutes or so, and then you pick out the dinosaurs before you bake them. Then when they come out of the oven, you have the imprint of your dino right on your cookie. Very cool!

Wiggle Time:

We learned that the name for a person who finds dinosaur bones in the earth and digs them up is a 'paleontologist.'

Then we had a chance to be paleontologists and find some ceramic dinosaurs in the sand. This host mom even had cool tools for us to use. The kids used them a bit, but were happier to use the quicker spoons to dig with.

Art Time:
We got to paint the fossils that we found in the sand. Very fun!

Art Time:

She had a sheet for each child ready to practice their printing. It had dots for the kids to trace, and then they got to try it on their own. When they were done the printing, they got to colour the picture of the dinosaur.

Snack Time: The fossil cookies of course! We also enjoyed juice boxes and bananas. Lucky kids!