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First time back at the beach in a month or two.... was a little foggy. I've never seen a crab on the "turtleshell" rocks before, man I wish I could drag these back and put them in the garden. Help wanted - this bugger is HUGE... if you want it, I think we need a chopper or boat to extract it. Anytime out with the family is great! Pretty sure I've seen these in someone's youtube before!!

The little man and I went to the C&D canal. His first and my second visit. Nice adventure out with success.. Happy Hunting

Have you helped your kids or grandkids put together a Fossil Collection for School? Do you have any pictures? Please share!!!

Some of you may remember my struggles with the COVID lockdowns and having to shutdown my event rental business. Sad times. Well… my wife is at it again! She recently started another business venture (about 8 months ago. I think…) This time it’s an imaginative indoor play area specifically for kids in the age range of 0-8 years old. It’s been well received by our community and she is doing great! Why does The Fossil Forum care? I’m glad you asked! Today my wife had her first Fossil Event for the kids. A private event with a limited number of tickets. The event consisted of kids getting to dig open a “dinosaur egg” which contained a plastic dinosaur toy that was hidden inside. A grab bag full of goodies, snacks, special fossil themed play areas, and open play to the entire facility. She also had a local fossil expert on hand to show real fossils to the kids. That’s me! All of the children were 5 years old or less. I spoke to each of them in turn since they had to come to me to get an identification for the dinosaur they just found in their egg. It was a joy to watch their face light up when I showed them the Megalodon tooth or petrified wood. I equally enjoyed their nose wrinkling in disgust when I handed them fossil poo**. The insect could go either way. I also gave each kid a real fossil to take home in their goodie bag. My meager fossil setup is shown below. It’s not much, but was enough for the 5 year olds (and younger). Showing them things they could understand and relate to was key. A big tooth, wood, a bug, poo. I also threw in a few local specimens that they may find in their own backyards. It was a fun time and I thoroughly enjoyed spreading a bit of my fossil enthusiasm to the younger generation. I will certainly do it again in the future. **I know that the “fossil poo” I brought is not likely a coprolite, and may even be strictly geological, but to a 5 year old, if it’s the shape and color of poo, then it must be poo!

Hello hello all. My kids have come of age when it comes to being able to understand things and have become hooked on fossils. It's pretty tough to find places where I'm from theres limited information on sites / locations. We dont really have any fossil clubs or official sites etc, everything we've ever found are shells. Fossils online seem to all be prepared. Can anyone point me in the direction of unprepared fossils that the kids can work on, they don't have to be anything fancy. Thanks in advance!

If this is too unrelated to the forum please let me know but I'm hoping to create a 'dinosaur' themed area of the garden for my son or any other kids who visit. Planning on installed more dinosaur nests with eggs (rounded chalk cobbles) and also some dinosaur footprints. It's the creation of the footprints I'm looking some advice on. I'm hoping to create a series of small paving slabs with a Dino footprint on each one. Wondering the best way to go about it. Perhaps a postcrete or a concrete mix into a mould of some type? It would have to withstand the elements but doesn't need to last forever. Any other suggestion for a Dino garden welcome :-) Ps I'm in the UK for product advice

My kids found these at the beach posting for kidos. Feel free to reply so I can share with them. They named them drumstick, hand or mitten and chicken foot

Back in about 1992 or 93and for many years later and still to this day I took the whole family fossil hunting. I always made it a priority to take the family on a fossil vacation. I use to do 7 out of state trips for fossil hunting every year with one of those for the family and always in the last week of june or first week of July. Always had to wait for the kids to get out of school. Used to do trips that last up to 3 weeks. Ha! Now a 4 or 5 day trip is about all I can do. The misses doesn't go with me nowadays but I cant help it, I need to get out even if I cant do much because of this stroke. Ive gone on 2 fossil hunting trips already this year and still have 2 more to go. One to the Fox Hills Formation in South Dakota for more of those super nice and high quality ammonites and then my last one to Washington to get more crab concretions and to aquire more of those rare and most beautiful agitized Aturia!!! I used to keep everything but nowadays I only want quality and to grow the collection. Trimmin down some fish slabs Abssolutely LOVE this place!!! This creek changed paleo history!!! Was told that there would be a dusting of snow and a bit chilly. It got down to -12 degrees and got 4 inches of snow that buried everything!!! and yeah, we camped in that weather. I didnt see it then but now I can see that I was one of the tuffest dudes alive!!!! This was after the -12 degree night and I had to trim all the fish slabs. once in the truck with the heater on my fingers and toes were numb and then came that god awfull stinging when they thawed out. Lots of pain but came home with lots of fish! This is back when I thought split fish were cool. Not so anymore. Just too spoiled now but sure had a heck of alot of fun back in the day!

Hi. This fall I will be teaching a paleontology class for 5th and 6th graders. We will meet once a week for 55 minutes. My plan is to teach up front for about ten minutes and then for the remainder of the class to be hands on activities. I have come up with some ideas, but would love some feedback on them and any other ideas that you all might have. The first session will be an introduction to paleontology, possibly including fieldwork methods, fossil prep, ichnology and trace fossils, adaptations, cladistics, plate tectonics, etc, while the second session will be more focused on the actual organisms that we find in the fossil record and how they changed through time. The second session will build a fossil kit as the session progresses to take home at the end. Here are the topics I have come up with so far: 1. What makes a dinosaur a dinosaur, addressing the dinosaur-bird connection 2. Cladistics- using either coins or candy or both 3. Fossils and sedimentary layers, layer cake stratigraphy (not sure about using food, depends on allergies) or could use colored sand and plastic cups with animal shaped beads to be the fossils 4. Dinosaurs and speed activity, have students learn to calculate their own speed over a given distance and apply that to dinosaur foot impressions 5. Plate tectonics and fossils, have the kids reconstruct the earth 220 million years ago based on fossils found on the different puzzle pieces that the land masses have been broken up into 6. Dinosaur teeth, learning the difference between meat-eaters and plant-eaters and discuss the size of dino teeth 7. Chocolate chip cookie excavation exercise, to teach how difficult fossils can be to extract from matrix and to prepare for study 8. Activity using a pant tray covered in dirt, rocks, and some sand. Sprinkle glitter (glitter= dead animal bones) over the dirt. Then gentle rain water out of a paper cup over your pretend hillside and watch the dirt absorb the water. There is a greater chance the glitter bones will be make it into the fossil record vs. the desert. Put plastic wrap over your hillside to simulate the desert. Sprinkle on your glitter and rain over it...glitter washes away into the arroyo, bones are separated, lost, broken, etc.... --> trying to develop into a way of showing how fossils end up getting in to the fossil record more easily in a forest environment vs. a desert environment. Still only just the beginning of an idea.

Hi, I've just struck up a new interest in fossils (thanks Thermopolis, WY!) and I want to share it with my nephews (6 of them!). I know the fossil sorting kits you buy don't have the most exciting of specimens (Ammonite, brachiopod, clam, coprolite, coral, crinoid stem, crinoid star, dinosaur bone, gastropod, orthoceras, petrified wood, sea urchin, shark teeth, stingray teeth, and fish vertebrae), but I thought it would be a fun start if I bought a pack of them to make some DIY dig kits. The recipe I found for it is 1 part plaster of paris, 1 part water, 2 parts sand, though I'm open to other suggestions if someone knows a better mix! http://longlivelearning.com/2012/11/homemade-geology-dig-kit/#comment-164564 A few questions: Will the plaster mix damage the fossils? What is the best way to clean off the excess plaster once the kids dig them out? I've heard vinegar, is that safe/will it work? Can you recommend some other inexpensive but interesting fossil types that I could buy to mix in? Anyone have fossil/dinosaur/prehistoric life book recommendations for ages 4 - 9?

Hi friends! I'm new, I just stumbled across this forum and it's awesome content while searching for fossil localities near Charleston, South Carolina. I was hoping to get some tips on looking for shark teeth anywhere between Columbia and Charleston. I am taking a road trip from AZ with my family and thought it would be really great to stop and search for fossils along the way. I just can't seem to really pin down any nice spots to find some. I know fossil hunting grounds are a very hush-hush type of thing, but I was hoping that I could be pointed in the direction of somewhere where I might be able to take the kids and hopefully find 5 to 10 teeth. Is anyone willing to share a location that is easily accessible where we can find a few neat little fossils? Maybe somewhere like a road cut, an easily accessible creek, or even a pile of excavated dirt...? Thanks so much!

Hi, The USGS water gauge for the Brazos River at Highway 21 (Whiskey Bridge) shows the water level at 35 ft. https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=08108700 Will any of the fossil beds be accessible with the water this high?

Hi all! A little while ago my husband and I saw this commercial for Maple Leaf Foods - we found it hilarious then and we still laugh out loud whenever it comes on, so I thought some fellow TFF members might also enjoy it. I think parents will find it especially funny... Enjoy! Monica

I'd like to make an announcement that a new species of stegosaure has been found in Indiana... A young grad student has uncovered what appears to be a baby stegosaure that can glow in the dark! I'm sure this find will be published in all the big name magazines and that National Geographic Channel will cover down on this scientific discovery. It's great when you can share your hobby and teach your children

Hi All, I'm new to the forum and have always been interested in fossils. My 6 year old daughter keeps asking about fossils and going fossil hunting in Beaumaris, a suburb of Melbourne. I'd love to do some hunting with her and wondering if anyone with experience goes down to Beaumaris to show us what to look for. Thanks so much. Asaf and Lexi

Hi!! I discovered your forum while looking for shark teeth on the Georgia Coast this past fall. We live in Oklahoma but spend time in central Colorado. I have always been a beach glass fan and our family loves fossils. My youngest is 6 so I feel that I can now properly incorporate fossil finding into our travels. We are now in Pensacola and from the things that I have read, I should head to Port A Dam with the kids to look for shark teeth. I am just not totally sure what I am in for. If someone could tell me the best, most efficient way to dig, sort, and any other suggestions for a newbie with kids, I would SO appreciate it!!!! I brought strainers and small shovels. I just am not sure how large/small my sifters should be. Thanks tons! I am excited for this new adventure!

Hey all, Have got a Dinosaur crazy three year old and we have started to look for fossils on our coast. Trouble is Dad knows next to nothing, IDing a Belenmite was a major score for me but totally unable to convice 3yo it is not a dinosaur tooth, so think I will be needing your help to not shatter his illusion about me.

Hi, I have an 8yr old daughter who is nuts about fossils and dinosaurs. After several years of thinking she will grow out of it I've come to the conclusion I need to help her develop her love of all things dinosaur and take her of a few fossil hunting trips. Problem is, I have no idea where to go or what to look for. Any help to get us started would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Hey everyone. New member. Was invited by a person on Facebook. Glad to be here. Question: There is a local girl scout troop looking for a place to go fossil hunting. They want to explore, get dirty, have fun, the normal kids stuff most of us never outgrew. Anyway, we live in the middle of no where fossil speaking. We are about 1.5 hours from Atlanta Ga, Asheville NC, and Chattanooga Tn. I have noticed some interesting road cuts along Hwy 24, but am not a fan of collecting next to a major highway. Let alone doing it with 10 kids. Is there any outcroppings - say along the rivers - around Chattanooga where the kids could find some interesting stuff? I have set the hook as it were. I just need to reel them in. Thank you in advance. The Houston Gem and Mineral Society had an EXCELENT spiral bound book about "roadside" fossil collecting. Maps on every page, where to park, all public access. Anything like that for Tenn.? or Georgia? Thanks again. Wolfman63

I'm in Bend for the weekend looking for destanations to look for fossils please HELP!!!

Hi! does anyone know where to look for fossils in Bali, we have just moved here. Three mad keen junior diggers would appreciate any insights. THANKS!

I am planning a trip with my 12-year-old grandson (and future paleontologist) to a dinosaur dig this summer, and would like to get some first hand advice on choosing a good outfit. We can go about anywhere in the U.S., several days to a week, but since we'll likely be flying we can't easily bring along much gear of our own. I've researched dozens of dig sites. Some sites were outdated, some sketchy on details, some had age limits or are already filled. PaleoAdventures and Hell Creek Fossils, Dinosaurs of the Western Slopes are possibilities, but I would welcome any comments on organizations to avoid, or ones you have had a good experience with.

I posted an ID recently and have found myself checking back on the forum several times to see what others are posting. Guess I'm addicted! I was lucky enough to grow up in a place in Austin where fossils were everywhere. The creek behind my house was full of all sorts of shells as well as geodes. My parents are both rock hounds and general naturalists. The mantel in our house did not contain framed family photos, but instead such items as a huge specimen of muscovite (mica) weighing probably 40 lbs, deer antlers, a vulture ulna with quill knobs, birds nests, and any number of small interesting 'finds' (skeletons, fossils, rocks, etc). 30+ years later, I now live but 2 miles from that house. Unfortunately for my own kids (5 and 7), our neighborhood creek is honeycomb limestone and I've yet to find a fossil in that type of formation. But we are a short car ride from plenty of other places. As I've shown them fossils on our hikes, I find myself referring to them by common names - ramshorn oyster, devil's toenails, deer hearts, etc - that I have no idea if they are correct! So I'm on a mission to really learn what's out there so I can teach my kiddos the right names from the get-go. My mom just handed down a Texas fossil book to me she's had since I was a kid. If she had that book, she probably taught me those names, and I bet they are right! But it never hurts to verify. We've been going on sporadic fossil hunts their entire lives. But recently they have really gotten into it and we've been going weekly. Instead of hitting up Shoal Creek (where you literally can't walk without stepping on a fossil), we've been exploring all the little creeks in our neck of the woods for more of a challenge. I've been showing them geological maps and google earth images, and we are trying to get better at guessing which areas will be good hunting. So far we miss more than hit, but who doesn't love a good romp in a stream bed? Little Fossil Hunters at work Proud of her finds! Not much on this trip, but fun place to explore! We have a lot of really clayey limestone with all sort of bits and bobs in it. Kids love picking through it.

Just thought I'd log my rank beginner fossil hunting expeditions I'm taking with my kids this month! It'll help me be better at note taking, and taking pictures, too. My 5 and 7 year old girls are becoming pretty good little fossil hunters. Sometime in the last few months, it become more of a dedicated hobby rather than an accidental one ("oh look, a fossil!" while on a hike). They've always been interested in them (7 year old wants to be a paleontologist) but hikes specifically to find them have just begun. We are now going out about once a week, sometimes more. The kids spent much of their pre-school years romping around a farm, so sitting inside for 7 hours is not their favorite activity. I try to get them outside for an hour or two each afternoon. Fossil hunting is an easy excuse to hit the great outdoors! I printed out a geological map of our area. I've been working on map reading skills with them from the first day we set foot on a trail, so they are pretty good at it for their age. While I can read all about what fossils can be found in the Eagle Ford group or the Glen Rose formation, not only are my kids just learning to read, but even if they could read well, all the scientific language would be extremely daunting to them. So I'm going for more of an intuitive approach. We pick a trail, note where it is on the map, start a journal entry in our fossil book (trail name, formation, date, weather, etc), and head out. With only a few data points, my kids already have a good idea of where to go and I'm letting them pick the spots starting next week. Our Treasure Map! October 2: Edward's Limestone, 1.5 hours A single find on this trip. Well, lots of algae, tadpoles, POISON IVY and other fun items, but a single fossil find. My 7 yr old spotted it...and LOVES it. Worth the trip. There's a barely visible (in the shot - it's very clear in person) scallop-type imprint on the right face as well. She calls it her Candy Rock because it looks like a Reese's peanut butter cup! October 5: Glen Rose and Bee Cave Marl, 1.5 hours This was a fun learning experience. We started looking right at the junction of two creeks. We searching along one branch for probably 15 minutes without finding anything of significance. We switched to the other branch and were surrounded by fossils. Just 10 feet away from a "dry" location. The kids pointed out the differences between the creeks. They are getting better at spotting good hunting grounds! I think we found most of our specimens in the Bee Cave Marl, but I believe both are exposed very close to each other here. Perhaps not together in this exact location, but certainly along the creek within a close distance. Lots and lots of heavily weathered little stuff. We found a HUGE partial gastropod. I bet it would have been 20 cm long if it hadn't been broken. Didn't get a picture though! Lots of Ceratostrean texanum, Gryphea, gastropods and many "questionable" finds that the kids couldn't resist putting in the bucket. As I sort through them, I'll probably post a few to see if they really are something. Some of them were really neat...but could just be geological. Are we playing in the creek or fossil hunting? Either is fine! The unsorted haul. Willa's favorite find! My favorite find! More to come!

I figured I'd share a little bit of information here. Since April of 2017, I've made a concerted effort to quench the insatiable fossil/dinosaur curiosity of my kids. Many of these field trips were actual fossil hunts themselves, but we've also gone to museums and other fossil displays. Here's a short description of some of them we've visited. I don't have a ton of pictures for the purpose of really illustrating what is available at each location...more pictures of my kiddos enjoying themselves! Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, Texas I cannot recommend this place enough. Especially for young dino-obsessed kids. The visitor center is staffed with friendly rangers and has a display area that kept my kids entertained and educated for quite awhile. The video wasn't quite exciting enough for them to really hold their attention, but they sat quietly through it - I thought it was great! The gift store is in an entirely separate building - something I appreciate. It can be hard to hold kids' attention on the exhibits when toys are lurking nearby. There are two old World's Fair dinosaur statues in the park. They are an outdated idea of what these dinosaurs were like. The signage explains this well and you get a good sense of how our knowledge has changed over the decades. Plus the kids thought they were awesome. I loved the way we explored the park - we apparently started with the least well-marked site first (because it was closest to the campground) and spent nearly an hour in the cold, damp weather tracking down the handful of theropod (probably Acrocanthosaurus) tracks at the Denio site. It gave us a true sense of discovery when we FINALLY saw them in the water. (you can see a print right between the girls) We then ventured to the main site with several long, distinct track ways of both a theropod and a sauropod (Sauroposeidon...which us Texans like to still refer to as Paluxysaurus). Also the Ballroom site which is a huge jumble of prints in every direction (possibly also iguanodonts). The sheer sense of wonder at being able to literally walk in these footprints is indescribable. Not only is the park a wonderful paleontology stop, but it's just simply a beautiful place. We went on the Black-capped Vireo Trail (plus connection trails, it was ~4 miles) and thoroughly enjoyed it...even the copperhead we startled! We also saw lots of marine fossils on the trail, but left them in place as the rules require. The Paluxy River is gorgeous and when it finally warmed up enough for us to be in the water, we didn't stray far from it. Texas Memorial Museum on UT Campus in Austin I love museums. I could spend HOURS in them…but not while toting 2 young kids. They love them too, but just don’t have the attention span for huge museums that can suck up your whole afternoon. Enter the Texas Memorial Museum. It’s PERFECT. It’s $7 for an adult, $5 for kids. It’s small, but packed with fun. The first floor takes you on a walk through time, explaining the Earth’s formation (and geology) and then leading you into a room full of fossils showing 500 million years of evolution. There’s cabinets with drawers and drawers full of neat little things in the Paleo Lab. Great for kids to explore. (can you tell T Rex is her favorite?) The second floor, the Great Hall (where you enter), has numerous gorgeous gem and mineral displays, a rotating show of nature photographs, the Texas Pterosaur – the largest flying creature discovered. The third floor features the current wildlife of Texas through taxidermy animals in dioramas. Always a favorite with the kids. And the fourth floor is about biodiversity, has some bizarre preserved specimens, and hosts travelling shows. Last time we went, the kids weren’t terribly interested (I think it was about viruses), but looking at the website now, the new show is about “Helicoprion, a bizarre 270 million year old whorl-toothed shark” …guess we need to make another visit soon! This museum is just about the right size to do after school. It closes at 5, giving us an hour and a half – perfect for not wearing out their little attention spans. I’m sure adults with no kids in tow could spend far longer in the museum though. Clayton Lake State Park near Clayton, NM On our summer road trip, I chose this as a stopping point for its convenient location, as well as the promise of dinosaur trackways. The trackways were unearthed during the construction of the reservoir. You can see them from a raised boardwalk and there’s plenty of information on the signage. (iguanodont tracks in the upper left of the photo) I have to admit that we have been completely spoiled by Dinosaur Valley State Park in TX. Still, this was well worth the stop. Not only were the tracks fun, but the single hiking trail in the park was absolutely gorgeous. There’s also plenty of interesting sandstone formations to explore. Plus, we were the ONLY ones tent camping. My kind of night. J This park is on our list of places to stop again, for sure. Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument in CO Um. WOW. What an amazing place! We spent hours looking through the fossils in the visitor center. In the shale deposits are all manner of plants and invertebrates. 1,500 different species of spiders and insects have been identified! There were also vertebrate fossils, as well as the magnificent petrified stumps you can visit on a short walk around the valley. This is another place I would love to visit again! Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center in Woodland Park, CO We’d passed by this place during our last few trips to Colorado, and finally made the effort to stop in. Glad we did! It was perhaps a bit pricey for what it was…plus the huge gift shop was a big distraction. The kids were a bit unruly that day so it wasn’t our usual, organized museum trip. I hardly had time to read any of the information. There was a puppet show (not fossil related) that took up most of our time, and we had to maneuver around a guided tour. But for a small space, this spot packed in a lot of fossils. Many of them were replicas, but that doesn’t make much of a difference to kids. My favorite was the triceratops leg with tyrannosaurus teeth marks. Still, I’m very glad we went in. There’s a working paleo lab in the back that you can peak in on people’s projects. That was neat. And THIS FISH FOSSIL! Copper Ridge and Mill Canyon Tracksites near Moab, UT My dino-obsessed cousins had a blast showing my dino-obsessed kids these trackways! I was very impressed with the signage put up by the BLM. Informative and beautiful. The Mill Canyon site in particular was spectacular. I highly recommend that one. Copper Ridge A perfect visual explanation of the tracks that can be seen just beyond this sign. Nice boardwalk that take you over the whole area.