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My fourth grade students are incredibly lucky.  They are going on a field trip to Mantua’s Inversand Fossil Dig.  They will have a chance to learn about fossil formation, and even dig for their own fossils.  I wish I was going on this trip!

Because they are going on this trip, and are also studying fossil formation in science, the fourth grade teachers asked me to run a fossil lab for STEM.  Of course I said yes!  This was a fun and easy (and VERY messy!) project that the students really enjoyed.

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We started with playdough to create the molds for the fossils.  Each student had a chunk of dough and a selection of shells and coral to choose from.  They pressed the shells and coral into the dough to make a mold for their fossils.

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Once they had their molds done, we lightly sprayed the dough with cooking spray to make our fossils easier to remove when they are finished.  I then mixed up some plaster of paris and poured it into the molds to create the casts.  The kids were a little disappointed to learn they have to wait a day or two for their fossils to harden enough to remove them, but I know they will be thrilled when they finally get them back.

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