creating our own fossils

working with fossils is something every kid likes to do. A fossil is a piece of physical evidence of history preserved through time. In class someday my students may want the chance to do some exploring on our own, so today we talked about a fun, cheap way for our students to do this.

In a group we decided on different ratios of sand, plaster and water to mix in order to create our own fossils. I made a fossil with sand, plaster, shells, and food coloring. I used a ratio of 40% sand and 60% plaster. I put in 45 ml of sand, and 65 ml of plaster mixed it with 70 ml of water then colored it blue for fun with food coloring.
Every kid wants the chance to dig around in the dirt and discover something awesome. I really hope that this mixture works when we compare them to other possible plaster mixtures in a few days when they have dried.


the breaking down of our fossils
what is the best fossil recipe?

when breaking apart my fossil, I found that when creating my fossils I need to make sure that my fossils sinks down a bit more from the top. It was still down enough that I had to dig it out. I think my recipe worked out really well. it was not to loose, but also not to hard to chip away at.
I started by peeling off the cup, then I took a Flathead screwdriver and started digging. It came off both in large chunks, and as a little bit of powder. I liked having the color in my mix to add just a little bit more excitement to it. I was surprised how it ended up looking when all dry, although you could easily spot the tip of the shell on the top
In my group the one who had the most sand in her mixture fell apart to quickly for it to be fun. the recipe does make a difference