Fossil Activities
Dinosaur Footprints

Dinosaur footprints in China valley

These fossil activities you will create dinosaur footprints in clay and then bake them to simulate a sedimentary rock. Scientists in China recently discovered 3000 footprints of six different species of dinosaurs in a valley.

Scientists use dinosaur footprints that have been found in stream beds and other places to study the size of the dinosaurs. They also can determine fast they were moving when they made the footprints. 

Fossil Activities Dinosaur Footprints of clay

Clay dinosaur footprints created by toy dinosaur

Materials

  • Flour
  • Salt
  • Water
  • Tin foil
  • Mixing boil
  • Cookie pan
  • Food coloring
  • Miniature dinosaur

Directions

  1. Mix together 2 cups flour, 1 cup salt and 1 cup water in a mixing bowl.
  2. Stir the mixture together with a fork and then knead the dough until smooth.
  3. Add a little flour if the dough feels too moist.
  4. Add a few drops of water if the mixture feels too dry.
  5. After the dough is smooth add a few drops of food coloring.
  6. Knead the food coloring into the dough.
  7. Preheat the oven to 225 degrees Fahrenheit.
  8. Pat the dough into a circle approxiately 15 cm (6 inches) in diameter on a piece of tinfoil.
  9. Place the tinfoil on a cookie sheet.
  10. Press the dinosaur's feet into the dough to simulate tracks made by a dinosaur walking.
  11. Bake the dough until lightly browned for several hours. (The dough in the picture was baked for 8 hours)
  12. Pull the tin foil off the clay and bake an additional hour.
  13. The dough is baked when it sounds hollow when lightly tapped.

More Links to Science Activities

Loop Airplanes - Flight Activities Get some friends together and build loop airplanes made from straws and circles of construction paper.

Tree Rings - Life Science Activity  You can be a science detective and discover what the weather was like by looking at tree rings. Learn more in this fun activity. 

Globe Toss - Earth Science Activity Compare the size of the world's oceans in this activity that is just a toss up of fun! 

Earthquake Waves - Simple Science Activities Earthquake waves cause rice to shake rattle and roll in this science activity.

Nature Mobile - Elementary Science  Activities Go for a nature walk to gather materials to create your very own special and unique nature mobile.

Dinosaur Footprints - Fossil Activities Create sedimentary dinosaur footprints using miniature dinosaurs in this Earth science activity. 

Science Activities Fun and easy activities that demonstrating science concepts can be found on this page

Home Page  The Science Site contains information on our planet, volcanoes, science projects, earthquakes and much more.

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