I’m so excited to tell you about this fossil excavation project my kids just finished!! I got the idea from another blog and decided to give it a try.
I went to Wild Creations to purchase kits for my two boys. Unfortunately they were all sold out so I went to Amazon.com. I bought two Geoworld Ice Age Excavation Kit – Mammoth Skeletons for $13.99 each.
The kit comes with a hammer/knife tool and chisel.
When I showed my boys these kits, they got to work immediately.
I would advice any parent to do this project outside because it creates a lot of dust and mess. My kids had blue dust all over their hands, faces, clothes and shoes. If you or your children have allergies or asthma, this IS NOT the best project for you to do. My mom came outside at one point to see what the boys were doing but the dust made her cough (asthma). She had to go back inside. The dust also irritated my husband who suffers from allergies.
The box clearly states that this product is for children ages 6 and older. My boys are ages 4 & 5 and had no problem working on this project. Actually, Caleb (my 4-year old) did some whining and complaining but I encouraged him to keep going. Everytime he chipped off a big chuck of rock he got motivated to continue and work harder.
My kids finished digging out all of their bones at the same time. It took them approximately 4 hours over a span of two days. Most likely an older child would finish much faster.
We took the bones inside and cleaned them with water and a toothbrush. We let the bones dry and then assembled them according to the diagram shown on the box. This was the only step where they need help.
Caleb (my 4-year old) was so excited about his finished skeleton.
Ephraim (my 5-year old) said, “Thank you mom for getting this project for us! I just love fossils!”
All in all, for $13.99 this kit was well worth it’s money. While working on excavating the bones, my children learned the art of hammering, chiseling and using a knife. It was fascinating to watch them learn and develop their own techniques for removing the bones. Ephraim prefered using the hammer and chisel along with the toothbrush, while Caleb used all options depending on which he thought was best at the time.
I will definetly buy more kits when they come back in stock!
**We checked out the following library books and read them before we started this project: Fossils Tell of a Long Ago by Aliki and Fossils of the World by World Book**
**I reinforced everything they learned about excavating fossils by taking them to the Orlando Science Center today to look at the fossil collections.**
