Hands-on Learning on the Types of Fossils

One activity that Mavi and I did during our fossil study was to examine the different types of method of preservation of organisms.  We discovered that there are actually 5 major types of fossils and I’m sharing how Mavi worked on them.


Now I wanted to make the fossils as realistic as possible, so I made this coffee-playdough again for us to use. Our aim was to make the following fossils:

• original preservation (entire organism preserved)
• petrified fossils (porous organisms turned into stones)
• mould and casts
• tracks and trails

Mavi first made the "Mould and Casts" type.  This type is a more popular and known type of fossil and way easier to replicate.


Here’s an imprint of a fern and the tracks of dinosaur for the "Tracks and Trails" type.


For the “Original Preservation” type of fossil, we had his mammoth toy frozen in ice inspired by this discovery of a baby mammoth in Siberia.  For "Petrified Fossils" type, we examined his dinosaur skeletons if they match the description of the said fossil type.


Later on Vito joined us and they made more "Mould and Casts" fossils using our air dry clay and even painted their own creations!


We used a lot of learning materials and research for this study, so I made Mavi some “notes” ahead of time to read so he can fully participate in the activity.

Materials used in this activity:

• Safari Ltd Dinosaur Skulls TOOB
• Assorted Dinosaur Fossil Skeleton 6-7" Figures
• Safari Ltd Carnivorous Dinos TOOB
• Fossils Tell of Long Ago (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2) (Bookdepository)
• Playmobil Woolly Mammoth with Baby

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