Teacher sheet · Ages 6–7 · about 45–50 minutes
Stories in stone
Lesson page: echoesof.science/school/fossils/ages-6-7/ · Pupil worksheet: echoesof.science/school/fossils/ages-6-7/print/
Learning aims
- Know that fossils are remains or traces of living things from long ago, kept in rock.
- Know that hard parts are most likely to become fossils.
- Describe simply how a fossil forms.
- Hear the story of Mary Anning, a young fossil hunter.
Lesson plan
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 5 min | Show a real fossil or a photo of an ammonite or a dinosaur bone. What could it be? |
| 10 min | Read the text together; act out the steps: die, covered by mud, layers, turned to stone. |
| 15 min | Make fossil prints. |
| 5 min | Play Fossil or not? |
| 5 min | Quiz together. |
Materials for the experiment
- A ball of play dough or modelling clay for each child
- Some shells, leaves or twigs
- A clean toy animal with feet
- A rolling pin or a smooth bottle
- A magnifying glass
Safety: Do not put play dough in your mouth. Use smooth shells without sharp edges. Wash hands afterwards.
Common misconceptions
| Pupils may think… | Actually… |
|---|---|
| Fossils are just old bones. | Fossil bones have usually been turned to stone by minerals, and footprints and burrows can be fossils too. |
| Every animal becomes a fossil. | Very few do; most rot away completely. |
| Fossils form in a few days. | It takes thousands or millions of years. |
Worksheet answers
- A drawing of a fossil bone, shell, leaf or footprint.
- A shell (hard parts last; a jellyfish is soft and usually rots away).
- The animal dies and is quickly covered by mud; more layers pile on top and turn to rock; water leaves minerals in the bone, so it turns to stone.
Quiz answers
- What is a fossil? What is left of a living thing from long ago, kept in rock. Fossils are remains or traces of life kept in rock.[3]
- Which part of an animal is most likely to become a fossil? Bones. Hard parts like bones last; soft parts rot away.[1]
- What covers the animal so it can become a fossil? Mud or sand. It must be buried quickly by mud, sand or silt.[1]
- Can a footprint become a fossil? Yes, it is a trace fossil. Footprints and burrows are trace fossils.[5]
- What did Mary Anning dig out of the rocks? The skeleton of an ichthyosaur. She uncovered an ichthyosaur skeleton.[2]
Going further
Make a class timeline of Mary Anning's life using the museum page, and draw her ichthyosaur skeleton together.
Sources used in this lesson
- [1] How are fossils formed? (Natural History Museum, London): reliability High
- [2] Mary Anning: the fossil hunter (Natural History Museum, London): reliability High
- [3] Fossils (British Geological Survey (BGS)): reliability High
- [4] How Fossils Form (US National Park Service (NPS)): reliability High
- [5] What is a Fossil? (US National Park Service (NPS)): reliability High
Full list with links and a note on each source's reliability: echoesof.science/school/fossils/sources/
Privacy: the lesson pages have no ads, no tracking and no cookies. Quiz answers and game scores stay in the pupil's browser. A short video for each age is coming.