Hobbies And Interests
Layer Box
Get a box which is at least 8 inches deep and 10 to 12 inches square. You can adjust the size of the box to suit your needs, but it should be relatively deep. Collect several different kinds of filler, such as clean dirt, potting soil, and sand. Gather some small objects such as toys, shaped erasers, etc., to use as fossils. Sprinkle a layer of dirt in the bottom of the box. Add some "fossils" and cover them with the same type of dirt. Add a few more fossils and cover them with a different type of filler. Repeat the process for a third fossil layer. Alternate the filler layers so that you don't have two layers with the same type of filler adjacent to one another. Have students carefully dig through the box, uncovering one layer at a time, to find the hidden fossils. This helps them see how items of the same age end up in the same layer of sediment.
Sediment Bottle
Use a 16 to 20 ounce clean, clear plastic soda bottle to hold your sediment. Fill the bottle about halfway with a mix of loose soil, sand, clay, small pebbles, bits of stick, leaves, shells, and one or two small toys. (Note: Choose toys that will sink, not float.) Add water to the bottle deep enough to cover the soil completely, and shake it. Observe what sinks and what floats. Let the bottle sit for about two weeks and observe what happens to the different layers. Remove the lid from the bottle and allow the water to evaporate completely. Give the sedimentary layers enough time to dry thoroughly, then cut away the plastic bottle. Dig carefully down through the layers to discover the "fossilized" toys and shells that have settled into the sediment.
Sand Glop Fossil
Create a batch of sand glop. To make it, pour 1 cup of clean sand into an old cooking pot. Add ½ cup of cornstarch, ½ teaspoon alum (an ingredient that can be found at the grocery store), and ½ cup water. Put the pot on the stove over medium heat and gently stir until the contents begin to liquefy. Continue heating for a few minutes, until it thickens and begins to get stiff. Remove from the heat and keep stirring as the glop begins to cool down. Dump the contents of the pan onto a cutting board and spread it out to help it cool. When you can touch it, take a small toy and mold a handful of the glop around it, making a ball about the size of a tennis ball. Let the ball dry for a few days, until it is hard. Tap it with a hammer to reveal the "fossil" inside. This activity simulates how bones and vegetation can be encapsulated in a layer of sandy sediment, which eventually turns to rock.