Do you have a budding paleontologist in your home or classroom?
I know my son can name more dinosaurs that I could ever imagine existed. It blows my mind to listen to him talk about all the different species of dinosaurs.
He has always been fascinated with everything dinosaur, so as we worked our way through our dinosaur thematic unit it was only logical for us to also explore what paleontologists do at a basic level 🙂
We had a blast exploring the world of paleontology with this dinosaur fossil kit you can make at home!
DIY Dinosaur Excavation Kit for Kids
Supplies:
- Flour
- Salt
- Water
- Food Coloring
- Sand or Soil
- Paint Brush
- Small Tray (we used these ones)
Find a fun dinosaur book to add to this activity from our Dinosaur Books for Kids list!
Directions:
1. Mix together 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt and 1 cup of water.
2. Knead the dough for 2 minutes or until it’s firm.
3. Create dinosaur bones with the salt dough. There’s no wrong or right way to do this, just have fun! Be silly and creative.
You can also use dinosaurs or stamps to create fossils! Head over to our Dinosaur Alphabet Excavation to see how we adapted this activity to learn our ABC’s!
4. Use a bit of food coloring to give the bones some age before baking them.
5. Bake the dinosaur bones for 30 minutes per inch of thickness at 325 degrees.
6. Take the bones out of the oven and allow them to cool completely.
7. Add the bones into a tray with sand or soil. Invite your little ones to dig through the sand to find the bones.
8. Add in a dry paint brush to sweep the sand off of the bones.
Then have fun playing!
Some Fun Resources to Explain Paleontology to Kids
Dig Into Paleontology – SciShow Kids
Paleontologist and Dinosaurs: Juniors on the Job – Play Kids
I Want to be a Paleontologist – Can You Imagine That
Paleontology: The Big Dig – American Museum of Natural History
Junior Paleontologist Program – National Parks Service
Please Share These Homemade Dinosaur Bones
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