After watching the Dinosaur Magic School Bus episode we learned about sediment and how dinosaur bone fossils are mold and cast formed. We made our own mudslide, let it settle, and as an after thought, Kingfisher stuck a desperate dinosaur in the middle... Later when I called him to do his journal he called out from within a pile of cushions on the couch, "sorry mom, I'm a fossil!" In other words, I was too late.
We looked at sandstone. We looked at how tiny clay particles that form shale can be by shaking up a bit of artist's clay in a jar of water.
We looked at limestone from our rock collection (fortunately labeled for us), and tested it and shells with vinegar for calcium properties. Shells fizzed a little, limestone OK, limestone tufa rock gave a more impressive response! (tufa; center above magnifying glass)
Then we watched these clips;
Fossil Rock Anthem a music video parody, soo funny...
Dinosaur Days clip explaining fossil formation
Which prompted these science journal entries:
This is Kingfisher's (5 y/o) diagram of sediment with a dinosaur I drew for him. The caption he dictated reads; "Help! I'm sinking! What should I do? I'll just wait till I dry up then a paleontologist will dig me up-but that's terrible all my bones are going to get washed away!"
This is Mockingbird's diagram of how fossils are formed... see the Dinosaur Days clip for this girl's doppelgänger...