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How to Make Fossils That Look Real

Fossils form when a plant, bone or creature dies and becomes covered by many layers of soil, sand and stone. Over thousands of years, pressure on the object creates an imprint of that object in the soil and stone around it. Paleontologists look for these fossils to discover what animals and plants lived during which era of Earth's history. Creating fake fossils helps students learn how and why fossils form. Making a mini-fossil museum is a helpful follow-up project for a lesson about fossil formation.

Things You'll Need

Coffee
Coffee grounds
Salt
Flour
Shells
Leaves
Plastic bugs
Olive oil
Wax paper
Sandpaper

Instructions

- 1
  Brew approximately 1/2 cup of coffee and let it cool. Reserve the grounds in the filter, making sure they remain slightly damp.
- 2
  Mix the liquid coffee and grounds with 1/2 cup of salt and 1 cup of flour. Knead the mixture with your hands until it is smooth and thick like bread dough or modeling clay. The liquid coffee and grounds gives the mixture the texture and appearance of stone.
- 3
  Tear off a palm-sized piece of dough and roll it into a ball. Rub a little olive oil over a leaf, shell or plastic bug. Firmly press the object into the dough ball.
- 4
  Crinkle up a piece of wax paper to give it texture, then smooth it out slightly. Press the bottom of the dough ball into the wax paper so the dough takes on the paper's texture. Let everything harden overnight.
- 5
  Gently peel away the wax paper and pull out the "fossilized" object. The dough should be hard as stone with the same color and texture. Use sandpaper to roughen the edges of the hardened ball or sand divots into the surface.

Artifacts