Modern Dinosaur Fossils

The children learned how dinosaur fossils were made by making some of their own.  Since dinosaurs no longer exist, we used plastic dinosaurs to fall into the soft soil (wet sand).  The children then pushed the dinosaurs down and made an imprint.  We added soft soil (plaster of Paris) to the tops of the imprints and let it harden like rocks did.  The next day the children were able to use their paleontologist tools to clean up their new fossils.

"Hatching" Dinosaur Eggs

Mrs. Montgomery froze some small dinosaurs inside of water balloons.  The children then used spray bottles to "hatch" the dinosaurs.  We decided that hot water and salt water made the ice melt faster than the cold water bottle.  The  children had so much fun while working on strengthening their small muscles in their hands (in preparation to have the strength needed for writing).