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Cookie Fossil Dig

June 10, 2015 Ticia 12 Comments

We picked back up our geography for kids with a cookie fossil dig in Colorado.  I know this is also a science for kids activity, but we did it as part of learning about Colorado.

Excavate the cookie fossil dig

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First we read Dinosaur Mountain: Digging into the Jurassic Age*, before starting our study up of Colorado again I hadn’t known the state was known for a large dinosaur dig in the late 1800s, when the huge dinosaur craze was going on.  There’s a series of canyons stretching from Utah to Colorado that have large number of fossils.

dinosaur dig at the park

We’ve previously done a couple of dinosaur excavations (dinosaur dig at the park, dinosaur excavation kit, and pasta dinosaur dig), and I wanted to come up with a slightly different variation, so we had a cookie fossil dig.

Cookie fossil dig supplies

excavate the dinosaur cookie fossil dig set up

chocolate chip or M&M cookie (we chose M&M), toothpicks* (I like these because I won’t crush the box and have them all over the drawer the next day) or Bamboo Skewers* (which is what I discovered I actually had in the house, sigh)

 

Cookie fossil dig procedure

Dinosaur cookie fossil dig

I stressed to the kids the importance of recording their findings as they dig up their fossils.  I also stressed the importance of being slow with your work.

cookie fossil dig

So they set to it, slowly breaking apart bits and pieces of the cookies, and finding the all important M&Ms.  Then they recorded what they found with where it was in the cookie, how many there were, and any other details they found important.

dinosaur cookie fossil dig excavation

As a final step they were to write what they thought they found.  Paleontologists in the early days knew nothing about what they were finding, and were making it up as they went along, so my kids made up the answers too based on the theories they created.

 

And of course in the end we ate some of the leftover cookies, a tough job, but someone had to do it.

 

Check out All Things Beautiful for more great science or history ideas (depending on which one I feel like linking it up to).

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geography, science Colorado, Utah

Comments

  1. Natalie PlanetSmartyPants says

    June 11, 2015 at 12:08 pm

    Brilliant activity! I also didn’t know about Colorado as a dinosaur graveyard. I always thought of Utah as one, but since they are close, it kind of figures!

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      June 11, 2015 at 12:28 pm

      I knew about Montana, and Utah, but like you said it makes sense because they are so close.

  2. Phylls says

    June 11, 2015 at 3:44 pm

    What a great state activity! We did it when we did geology, but it is a great idea to do it with Colorado.

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      June 11, 2015 at 4:49 pm

      Thanks. I meant to do something like this with our geology stuff, but time just got away from me this year.

  3. maryanne @ mama smiles says

    June 11, 2015 at 9:35 pm

    What a delicious fossil dig!

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      June 11, 2015 at 9:55 pm

      I know! It was so much fun to do, and clean up was easy, we just ate the mess.

  4. Courtney says

    June 11, 2015 at 10:25 pm

    Of course, we would have to distribute two cookies…

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      June 11, 2015 at 10:27 pm

      Of course….

  5. Almost Unschoolers says

    June 13, 2015 at 6:59 am

    You know I like anything that has to do with a cookie 🙂 I grew up (part way, anyway) in Colorado, so I knew about the dinosaurs. They also have some absolutely fabulous Indian cliff dwellings, and of course the Royal Gorge Bridge – just in case you missed anything – popping in out of order, I’m not sure what all you’ve already posted about – but this activity looks great!

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      June 13, 2015 at 10:00 am

      This is the first thing we did, we got started on the activities and then the books were due back at the library, so I need to recheck them before we can finish.

  6. Claire says

    June 14, 2015 at 3:58 am

    What a fun and simple activity. Ticia, you are the queen of fun and simple activities!

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      June 14, 2015 at 7:09 am

      Awwww…. thanks. You’re no slouch yourself on fun activities.

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Ticia Adventures in Mommydom Hi, I'm Ticia! This is the adventures of my family in life and learning. Follow along with us as we share our adventures. We're having a lot of fun and learning as we go.

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