/*-------- Begin Drop Down Menu -------*/ #menubar { background: #8E8E8E; width: 840px; color: #FFF; margin: 0px; padding: 0; position: relative; border-top:1px solid #B2FFFF; height:35px; } #menus { margin: 0; padding: 0; } #menus ul { float: left; list-style: none; margin: 0; padding: 0; } #menus li { list-style: none; margin: 0; padding: 0; border-left:1px solid #1A6680; border-right:1px solid #1A6680; height:35px; } #menus li a, #menus li a:link, #menus li a:visited { color: #FFF; display: block; font:normal 12px Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0; padding: 9px 12px 10px 12px; text-decoration: none; } #menus li a:hover, #menus li a:active { background: #130000; /* Menu hover */ color: #FFF; display: block; text-decoration: none; margin: 0; padding: 9px 12px 10px 12px; } #menus li { float: left; padding: 0; } #menus li ul { z-index: 9999; position: absolute; left: -999em; height: auto; width: 160px; margin: 0; padding: 0; } #menus li ul a { width: 140px; } #menus li ul ul { margin: -25px 0 0 160px; } #menus li:hover ul ul, #menus li:hover ul ul ul, #menus li.sfhover ul ul, #menus li.sfhover ul ul ul { left: -999em; } #menus li:hover ul, #menus li li:hover ul, #menus li li li:hover ul, #menus li.sfhover ul, #menus li li.sfhover ul, #menus li li li.sfhover ul { left: auto; } #menus li:hover, #menus li.sfhover { position: static; } #menus li li a, #menus li li a:link, #menus li li a:visited { background: #B3B3B3; /* drop down background color */ width: 120px; color: #FFF; display: block; font:normal 12px Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0; padding: 9px 12px 10px 12px; text-decoration: none; z-index:9999; border-bottom:1px solid #1A6680; } #menus li li a:hover, #menusli li a:active { background: #130000; /* Drop down hover */ color: #FFF; display: block; margin: 0; padding: 9px 12px 10px 12px; text-decoration: none; } /*-------- End Drop Down Menu -------*/

Tuesday 28 July 2015

Matching Animals with their Fossils



I created this activity for our Noah's Ark theme, but it could be used with any animal-related activity. The ancient story of Noah and the historic traces of animal remains preserved in rock formations seemed to go together, so I thought I'd give the boys their first lesson in paleontology by creating fossils and seeing if they could match up the animals with their fossils.  I should point out that the animals I chose were not related to actual fossils that have been found (or at least not intended to be - apart from the dinosaurs of course!)



To make the fossils, I used the recipe for salt dough which I borrowed from this website, using only half of the ingredients recommended (as this activity didn't require such a large quantity of dough).  I pressed the animal figurines into the dough and gently pulled them away.  The animals with intricate features seemed to work particularly well (such as the octopus and the gecko).  I cut around the animal patterns and lifted the fossils onto a baking tray and put them into the oven at 100 degrees for about an hour and a half. The temperature should be high enough to dry out the dough, but low enough to prevent it from cooking.  

Once the dough felt hard, I removed the baking tray from the oven and let the fossils cool.



I set up the activity by presenting the boys with a basket of animals which included the animals with a matching fossil.  The activity required them to match up the animals with their corresponding fossil. To help the boys do this, I gave them a clump of playdough that they could use to test out the patterns that the animals made.

What we used:
Salt
Plain Flour
Animal Figurines
Knife
Playdough


Please click here to see our other Noah's Ark-related activities.

No comments:

Post a Comment