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Design A Fossil

Activity

How Scientists Reconstruct Ancient Creatures

Have everyone design their own fossil and draw it. Share your drawing with a sibling or with a friend, and have someone else create the creature they think made the fossil! Give it a scientific name and a common name and briefly describe its characteristics. Where did it live? What did it eat? How long did it live? *If you have a bigger group you can make a game out of it and try to guess which fossil belongs to which creature*

Science Seed

Because fossils don’t preserve soft tissues like skin, muscles, or internal organs, it can be tricky for scientists to know exactly what dinosaurs looked like or how heavy they were. To estimate weight, paleontologists compare the size and shape of fossilized bones to modern animals with similar body structures, then scale up to match the massive sizes of dinosaurs. They also study muscle attachment sites on bones to guess how strong or bulky a dinosaur might have been, and use computer models to test how the animal’s body might have moved. Even with all these methods, there’s still a lot of educated guesswork, which means new discoveries can completely change our ideas about what dinosaurs looked like.

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earn Badges

Badges can be earned through hands-on experiences within each of the 16 branches of science, or “Science Slices.” You can earn a badge in each branch of science by doing four activities in these categories. We also encourage participants to keep a Nature Journal to record their memories, and to express themselves creatively through writing or drawing after each activity. We recommend that each child (and parent if they’d like) write or draw in a journal after each activity, with expectations of your children that match their age (the goal is self-expression, not perfection).

Explore Anywhere PEEP

join Families in Nature

It is our vision to inspire all families to fall in love with nature and foster the next generation of conservationists. Becoming a member of Families in Nature will give your family the opportunity to have adventures in nature, experience field science, develop as youth conservation leaders, and make memories that will last a lifetime. Memberships are free for everyone.

Who are we?

Families in Nature works to create opportunities for nature connection with the purpose of sparking a deep love and desire to protect, conserve and restore the environment. Our mission is to connect children and their families to nature and to each other through time spent learning, playing, and volunteering outdoors. It is our vision to inspire ALL families to fall in love with nature and foster the next generation of conservationists.