Dinosaurs have been extinct for a long time, but scientists use fossils to study them! Create your own fossils and learn about dinosaurs!

Materials:

2 cups flour, 1 cup salt, ½ cup water, fossil toys (plastic dinosaurs, skeletons, dolls, bugs, flowers… whatever you want to experiment with!)

Time Estimated:

1.5-2.5 hours

Directions:

Mix the flour, salt and water together until you have a dough.
Create 1 inch balls and press flat.
Gently press your toy into the dough and remove to leave behind a fossil!
Bake at 250 degrees for 1-2 hours to save your fossil forever!

Think Like A Scientist:

What else can you do with this clay recipe? Create your own dinosaur sculpture out of clay!
What is the clay acting as in this experiment? How did this happen in real life?

How It Works:

In this experiment, you made your own fossils! Fossils are made when things are preserved in special types of rock! Fossils aren’t the actual thing, they are just an impression of what was once there. To make your own fossils, you made a special mixture of substances that acted similar to how some rocks act to fossilize plants an animals!

Anthropologists analyze fossils and learn about ancient communities and animals of our past. Fossils are very helpful to show us what was alive on Earth long before us. Anthropologists have used fossils to find out that there are many different plants and animals that used to be on Earth, but are extinct! Being extinct means that they are not on our planet anymore.

Do you want to be an anthropologist? If you discovered a new dinosaur, what would you call it? Tell us in the comments below!

Looking for more fun at home STEM activities for your young scientist? Check out our workbook full of exciting science experiments and empowering activities!

Learn more and purchase today!