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This website includes a activity where students model the formation of fossil layers using bread

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Have you ever seen a fossil? A fossil is any evidence of past life preserved in sediments or rocks. Do you think you could have dinosaur fossils in your family car's gas tank? Did you ever hear that oil and natural gas are "fossil fuels"? Do you think oil and natural gas can be made from fossils? How long do you think it takes fossil fuel to form?

Oil and natural gas together make petroleum. Petroleum, which is Latin for "rock oil," is a fossil fuel, meaning it developed naturally from decaying prehistoric plant and animal remains.

Millions of years ago, much of the Earth was covered with swamp. Prehistoric plant and animal remains washed into the seas along with sand and silt. Layers of organic materials piled up on the sea bottom. These thick layers were buried by mud, sand, and silt that trapped the organic material. Without air, the organic layers could not rot. The mud thickened and pushed down on the organic material with increasing pressure. The temperature of the organic material also increased as other processes in the Earth produced heat. Mud sediment was buried by more sediment. Sediment changed to rock as temperature, pressure, and anaerobic bacteria-microorganisms that can live without oxygen-increased.

Thus, ancient plant and animal remains have been "cooked" by these processes and slowly changed into crude oil. Crude oil is held inside rock formations, similar to the way a sponge holds water.

Materials

Paper towels

Three slices of bread (one slice each of white, wheat, and rye)

Gummy candy fish (or other gummy sea animals or plants)

Heavy books

Magnifying lens

Clear drinking straws

Procedure

Place a paper towel, three to four gummy fish, and three slices of bread (one each of rye, white, and wheat) on a table.

Carefully pull the crust from the bread.

Place a piece of white bread, representing the sandy ocean floor, on top of a paper towel. Put a gummy fish on the bread to represent dead marine life.

Place a piece of rye bread on top of the white bread layer, representing the way ocean currents deposit sediments on top of dead marine life, settling on the bottom of the ocean.

Now add the remaining gummy candy, then the last slice of bread. This represents the natural processes that have taken place over millions of years, as more sand and sediments have been deposited by wind and ocean currents.

Fold the paper towel to cover your bread fossil.

Something is still missing to help your fish fossilize: pressure. Place heavy textbooks on top of the bread to simulate the natural process of pressure.

Leave your model one or two days to represent the passage of millions of years.

After one or two days, observe the bread fossil. Push a clear straw straight down into the bread and pull it back up to "extract" a core sample. Observe the layers through the straw.

Try to separate the layers of the bread. Why do you think the layers are difficult to separate? Try to extract the fish. Can you identify the fish fossil's mold (impression in the bread)? How about the fossil's cast, which is the mineral material that fills the hole left when the fossil is gone?

Compare the colored residue of the gummy fish in the bread fossil to the remains of the plants and animals that seep into rock. The residue left by the gummy fish represents oil deposits left behind by dead ocean plants and animals. Over millions of years, these remains are pressurized to become oil and natural gas deposits.

Visit www.energy4me.org for more energy education classroom activities and resources.

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Have you ever seen a fossil? A fossil is any evidence of past life preserved in sediments or rocks. Do you think you could have dinosaur fossils in your family car's gas tank? Did you ever hear that oil and natural gas are "fossil fuels"?

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"Fossils: Evidence of the Past" (Anchor Chart)

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"Fossils: Evidence of the Past" (Anchor Chart)

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This is an anchor chart that shows the fossil record and different facts attributed to fossil formation.

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This link includes instructions on how to create and customize your own fossil dig. This can be used to allow students to experience the process of trying to dig and find fossils.

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EC got one of those fossil dig sets last year, and ever since he keeps asking if he can have some more of them. In my opinion they are great and would make a fab activity to do during the summer. I did one a few years ago when I worked for Disney Cruise Line. One of my "friends" was a palaeontologist who was digging up this giant whale that had washed ashore on Disney's private island Castaway Cay. Basically this meant sitting out in the sun while lots of children tried to dig up the whale and find the missing teeth. To add some credibility to my character I had one of these fossil digs, and spent hours carefully excavating my tiny dinosaur bones. I actually found it rather therapeutic. Saying that, they are expensive, so I would rather make some myself for a fraction of the cost.

For the first set I made, I went through my little ones toy cupboards and found some plastic figures like a pig etc. For the second set I bought a few gems and fossils from the Natural History Museum (ranging from £1-£3) to bury.

Make sure you follow my homemade toys board on Pinterest for more ideas. Don't forget to save the pin for later.

To make your own fossil digs you will need:

Plaster of paris - I got some on amazon.co.uk

Smallish containers

Foil

Spoon

Something to bury

Bowl

Paint (optional)

Cover the inside of the containers with foil - this makes it easy to take the finished product out, plus it gives them a really nice textured appearance.

Make up the plaster of paris according to the instructions; I made mine up with slightly more water, that way the plaster would be softer and easier to dig through.

Pour some of the plaster into your contain, then add the "fossil" and finally cover it with some plaster and leave to dry.

To finish of the look, I gave mine a coat of brown/grey paint to make them look more like rocks.

Once they are ready, let your little one start digging. To dig them out I would let them use either a really stiff paintbrush or a thick toothpick; a bit like the ones used in manicures. Be warned it will create a lot of dust, so I would highly recommend doing them outside.

Happy Fossil Hunting!
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Dinosaur Digs DIY Dinosaur Digs Fossils nanny anita

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EC got one of those fossil dig sets last year, and ever since he keeps asking if he can have some more of them. In my opinion they are great and would make a fab activity to do during the summer. I did one a few years ago when I worked for Disney Cruise Line.

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