National Fossil Day is the 2nd Wednesday of the 2nd full week of October. National Fossil Day falls on October 12, 2016. Fossils are very important clues to our distant past and plus they are just really cool.
As for activities to do, well you can always make your own fossils. Salt Dough, plaster of paris or clay works great. All you need to do is press an object into it. Voila, you have a fossil. You can make salt dough with 2 cups of flour, 1 cup salt and 1 cup water. Mix it up with your hands and then roll it out.
Another version is using coffee, this will give it a brown color. Use 1 cup of wet used coffee grounds, 1/2 cup of cold coffee, 1/2 cup of salt and 1 cup of flour. Again mix it up with your and roll it out.
You can press toy dinosaurs or plants into the dough and it looks great. Now most of these recipes are generic and they may need to be adjusted for your area. Like cooking, your elevation and humidity does matter. You can let the air dry or put them in the oven at 200 degrees and let them cook for 2-3 hours. Don’t use a higher degree or they will brown and may burn. I have read about disaster about people thinking that they can turn up the heat to cook them at a shorter time. It does not work that way.
Now I did see a picture of using water balloons. You find a way to put your dinasur in the balloon and fill it up with water. Freeze it and then use table salt to thaw it out. After struggling one year to put items in balloons, I swore never to do it again. But I was told a secret, cut off the top of a soda pop bottle and put the balloon over the opening and slip you item in. Right, after all the hours and pain I suffered doing it the other way…. What can I say, crafts are not as easy as the look. Sometimes you need to think out of the box. It does help children and parent to learn to do some critical thinking.
I hope this gives you some ideas. National Park Services is the sponsor of National Fossil Day and more information can be found at their web site at http://nature.nps.gov/geology/nationalfossilday/index.cfm.
Happy Exploring.
Coriander Bats
10/11/16
A Missive from Coriander Bats 