Clay Fun: How to make clay fossils

Have you made clay fossils with your children yet?  Last week we spent most of the afternoon creating many different types of fossils just using a few items from around our home. If we had so much fun just making them, I can only imagine the fossil fun we’ll have with the finished products!

What you’ll need:

• Clay
• Nature
• Plastic animals

How to make clay fossils:

It’s quite simple, which makes this activity perfect for both toddlers and older children.

1.   Knead the clay until it’s nice and smooth.

2.   Then, roll it out until it’s flat.

3.   Lay out some items on a table. We used nature (gumnuts, seeds and leaves) and some plastic animals. Ask your child to use the items to make imprints in the clay. Let them choose what ever they like. They can make nature fossils, animal fossils and even footprint fossils!

4.   Let your clay fossils dry in the sun.

Here are their finished products.

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If you love this activity here are ten top ways to learn about dinosaurs!

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 We’ve made fossils using paster of paris before too but this activity is far less messy! Give it a try. Your children will love creating their own special fossil to treasure.

Additional Fossil Activities:

Learn about fossils – There’s a whole website dedicated to learning about fossils. Take a look here.

Palaeontologist play – Mark out an area (the sand pit is perfect), hide the fossils and using a few paint brushes ask your children to carefully excavate the fossils. With your child, learn about what the daily life of a  Paleontologist.

Learn about Dinosaur fossils– How do we know that dinosaurs lived on Earth? Because there is proof!  Investigate the animals they’ve  discovered existed and discover how they try to piece the animal’s life together using knowledge given by the fossils themselves.