Is your little ready to become a paleontologist? Rediscover the magic of dinosaurs with this dinosaur fossil STEAM activity. Using clay and ‘archaeology tools’ your child can create and then rediscover fossils left throughout the ages. With the combination of sensory activities, fine motor exercises, and shape recognition, one simple activity can become a wealth of knowledge and fun!
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For this activity, you need a couple of different things:
- Clay
- Shape blocks
- Dinosaurs
- Archaeology tools
- Dirt (graham crackers)
How this fossil STEAM activity works
- Using the clay, create dinosaur tracks with dinosaurs, shape blocks or hands
- Allow the clay to dry completely or bake until dry to create fossils
- Bury the ‘fossils’ in a sectioned off area of dirt, or for indoor fun try crushed graham crackers in a pan
- Gather your archelogy tools and start digging!
- As your child discovers the ‘fossils’ be sure ask questions about the process. If they unearth shape blocks, which shape did they find? Are the tracks big or small? The possibilities are limited only by your imagination!
Allowing your child to immerse themselves in the experience is a wonderful way to create excitement about an idea or topic. This activity can be as simple or as complex as you would like to create it!
Using the shape blocks allows you to practice shape recognition with your child. Starting at 2 years old, children will start to learn about shapes and by 3-4 years old children should be able to identify 6 different shapes.
My daughter currently loves anything and everything dinosaur! She loved pressing the dinosaurs into the clay. A word of advice, start with the shape blocks. Pressing the blocks into the clay was fun and exciting for Evie, after all, it isn’t something we do every day. Once the dinosaurs came out, the interest in the shapes when down significantly. So, we discussed the shapes when she pressed them into the clay. After the clay dried, I buried it in crushed graham crackers. I had been planning on burying the ‘fossils’ in one of the empty planters…however, the rain turned my dirty dig into a muddy dig, and we came back inside.
While Evie was digging around the graham crackers, she would uncover the shape fossils and we would have another discussion about the shape that Evie found.
Did your child like getting their hands a little dirty? Try this at home beach activity!
As an added bonus, Evie and I made sure we made Evie-saurus fossils to commemorate the fossil STEAM activity. Now we have a small keepsake from this and we can look back at her cute little hands.
Looking for more dinosaur related activities? Check out this Dinosaur Morning Basket for a TV free morning!
[…] The fossil activity was so much fun! I encourage you to get creative with your ‘fossils’. Evie and I created shape fossils, an Evie-saurus fossil, and some dinosaur toy fossils with air-dry clay. You can even jazz it up and create an entire experience with different materials! I go into more detail about this activity in an earlier post! […]