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On the hunt. Children have a natural advantage when it comes to amateur fossil hunting: they’re closer to the ground, have better eyesight, and are curious about their surroundings. “Kids are just natural scientists,” says Ilana April, senior manager of early childhood education at the American Museum of Natural History.
Learn about fossils, extremely rare—and valuable—records of the past. Visit OLogy, the Museum's science website for kids, to find free dinosaur games and activities. Learn how to draw what a dinosaur looked like, match eight dinosaur fossil photos with their descriptions, reconstruct and identify a fossil skeleton, and much more!
- Overview
- What exactly is a fossil?
- How to get started
- On the hunt
- Going beyond fossil hunting
Dinosaur digs and other searches can be epic adventures. Here’s what you need to know to turn children into amateur paleontologists.
There’s just something about dinosaurs. They’re big, mysterious, and long gone—mostly. “Paleontology is a bit like piecing together this puzzle of the past,” says Kristen Olson, senior coordinator of curriculum and content at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. “It’s a little bit mysterious and relies so much on discovery.”
Take heart, parents: You don’t need to know it all before you begin. Still, a bit of knowledge will set you off on the right track—and make you seem like a genius to your children.
Basically, a fossil is the remnant of ancient life. “They’re the remains of an extinct plant or animal or some trace of their behavior, like a footprint or fossilized poop,” explains paleontologist Scott Sampson, director of the California Academy of Sciences and author of the Nat Geo Kids book You Can Be a Paleontologist!
Body fossils are the actual remains of the creature, like bones; trace fossils are signs of the creature, like imprints of feathers. The basic formula for creating a fossil goes something like this: a living thing dies, the soft parts decay, sedimentary rock builds on top of what’s left, and water seeps into the bones and teeth to turn it to stone. Sometimes, water dissolves the bone or shell and leaves an imprint on the rock.
Left: Actual remains of a creature, like this bat petrified in limestone displayed at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, is called a body fossil.
Photograph by Roberto Machado Noa / LightRocket via Getty Images
Right: Imprints of once-living things, like this leaf, are called trace fossils.
Dedicated gear is not only fuel for excitement, but it also adds seriousness to the expedition. Pack a backpack with a shovel, a small hammer or chisel, and brushes to excavate your finds. Bring a notebook, pencils, and a camera for documentation. Don’t forget sunscreen, snacks, a hat, and water since many fossil-friendly spots don’t offer much shade.
The best fossil spots vary by region, so it helps to do a bit of research ahead of time. “You’ve got to have sedimentary rocks [that is, rocks that were formed by deposits of sediment], and they’ve got to be exposed,” Sampson says.
Often, these are places where an ancient river flooded and then retreated into its channel, leaving behind layers of shale, sandstone, or limestone and, with it, fossils. To find nearby fossil-friendly spots, check out a geological survey or a paleogeographic map.
Look for places where rocks from long ago might be at the surface. Dirt-filled forests or newly landscaped locations will make your search more challenging. Deserts, quarries, or spaces where the earth has been split—like where roads have been cut into mountains or in cliffs along rivers—are great spots.
Children have a natural advantage when it comes to amateur fossil hunting: They’re closer to the ground, have better eyesight, and are curious about their surroundings. “Kids are just natural scientists,” says Ilana April, senior manager of early childhood education at the American Museum of Natural History. “They’re born with a curiosity about the world around them.”
Of course, the chance of a child stumbling across a gigantic dinosaur skull is very, very small. In fact, because so many types of fossils exist, it’s hard for experts to describe what exactly to look for. That’s why April suggests that kids start their search simply by looking slowly and carefully along the ground. “The most important tool scientists have might be their eyes,” April says.
Then, stay on the lookout for interesting designs, patterns, and textures. “I look for symmetry,” says Paul Mayer, paleontologist and collections manager for fossil invertebrates at Chicago’s Field Museum, “You want to train your eye to look for nice lines.”
For example, many shell fossils will have bilateral symmetry, so the left will be a mirror image of the right. Other times, texture will be the key.
Left: When searching for fossils, kids should look for patterns and texture in rocks, like the ones from this shell.
Photograph by Chris Griffiths / Getty Images
Discovering the world of dinosaurs and ancient living things isn’t just about digging. Here are five other activities to connect with the past.
Track living dinosaurs. Blow your kids’ minds by tossing out this fact: Dinosaurs exist today as birds. Take your kids bird-watching and see if they can find similarities between the dinosaurs in their books and the ones in the trees.
Search for ancient plants. “Certain species of plants that grow today were also around during the Ice Age and eaten by giant sloths and mammoths,” Olson says. Look for trees like Osage orange, honey locusts, magnolias, avocados, and even ferns, then imagine what creatures might have been chowing down on them millions of years ago.
Find fossils of the future. Insects still get stuck in tree sap, under a rock, or inside tar (even if it’s just on your driveway). Have kids search for fossils-in-the-making to compare with ancient versions.
Create a fossil record. If your kid’s find is in a protected space—or you just don’t want a bunch of rocks cluttering up the house—create a memento with an old-school rubbing technique. Hold paper against the unique portion of the rock and rub against the section with a crayon, marking what is raised. (Even if they don’t find a fossil, doing this activity with things like tree bark, leaves, or textured stone is still a great way to capture an adventure.)
Trace nature’s patterns. Paleontologists use fossil finds to understand the behavior of ancient living things. Have kids use their own investigative skills—and a bit of creativity—to follow clues that today’s creatures might leave behind. For example, broken acorns could mean a nearby squirrel’s nest—or nearby poop.
- Lindsay N. Smith
- Types of Fossils. Paleontology isn’t always as cut and dry as finding a dinosaur bone and shipping it off to the nearest museum. There are a variety of different types of fossils that paleontologists study, as your kiddos are about to find out with these fossil activities!
- Fossil Formation. To fully understand the relevance of fossils, however, your kiddos will need to understand how exactly fossils are formed in the first place.
- Layer Dating and Earth’s History. Fossils are excellent discoveries in and of themselves, but it’s just as important to discover where a fossil is in order to glean as much information as possible from the discovery.
- Purpose of Fossils. With so much ado about fossils, what exactly is their purpose, besides just being neat to look at? Well, fossils serve as a tangible historical record of life on Earth.
Jan 14, 2020 · Dan R. Lynch, author of many field guides, presents an introduction to paleontology in his easy-to-understand guide Fossils for Kids. Begin by learning about the early Earth and the process of fossilization. That’s followed by an identification guide to the most common and collectible fossils: crinoids, snail shells, shark teeth, and more.
Hands-on Fossil Activity 1: Fossil Dig (20 minutes) Set up an excavation site in the classroom or outdoors, using sand or soil mixed with small buried fossils or replica artifacts. Divide students into small groups and provide each group with excavation tools such as brushes and small shovels. Instruct students to carefully excavate the fossils ...
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In this activity, students assemble puzzle pieces to match up fossil types with their definition and a picture. 2. Digfield School has a series of fossil lesson plans that can be found here. 3. In this activity titled “ The Great Fossil Find, ” students act like paleontologists and assemble fossil bones to determine the type of animal.
