kiki lane
All about Fossils / How to make fossils
In our class, we learn so much about dinosaurs and other extinct creatures
Animals long ago:
Earth's mammals lived long, long ago. Like mammals today, they had hair or fur. Most of them gave birth to live babies. And babies drink milk from their mommies. The first mammals were small. They lived with huge dinosaurs. Then, all the dinosaurs went extinct. But some tiny mammals lived on. Without the scary dinosaurs, mammals didn't have to hide anymore. Over millions of years, the size of some mammals had gone crazy.
Some mammals lived on land. The biggest rhino was more than 7 meters long. Huge mammals lived in the ocean, too. Some whales were as long as 2 buses.
Triceratops
Triceratops was a dinosaur that had three big horns on its head. One of the horns was on the top of its nose. They had a beak for a mouth. It was as long as two hippos. It was as tall as an elephant!
Tyrannosaurus Rex (T-Rex)
T-Rex was a very scary dinosaur. It had super strong back legs, but very small, weak arms. If it fell, it would probably die. It was as fast as a bike. With its tail, it was as long as a bus.
Psittacosaurus
Psittacosaurus can be found in China, Russia, and some other Asia countries. It was a plant-eater dinosaur. It had a beak that looks like a bird, a long tail, and horns on its head. It was a pretty small kind of dinosaur, but it could grow as long as 2 meters.
Since kids are super curious about all those animal, we took a field trip to our local museum to check the special dinosaurs that located in China.
After that we used recycled materials and plaster of paris.
The whole process was fun and easy.
How to make fossils
we've learned so much about different types of fossils and how were the fossils formed. When animals died, the sand or dirt quickly buried the dead bodies. After million of years, the mineral from water worked the magic.
In our class, we tried to created our own fossils.
What you need: plastic animal toys or shells; plaster of paris; water; stick(for mixing) ; paper bowls; clay; Vaseline
How to do:
step1: Place a layer of clay on the bottom of the bowl
step2: Apply a thin layer of Vaseline. With the layer of vaseline, you can easily get the pressed-on objects off. And also you can get the clay off the plaster of paris later.
step3:Choose an object and press it onto the clay. Remove the clay and check if the impression is clear enough or not.
step4: Mix water and plaster of paris.
step5:Pull the liquid over the impression.
step:6 Wait for about 2-3 hours(it depends)
Finally：You can remove the clay and check your own fossils.
