Jurassic Mary: Fossil Girl — Carol Simon Levin portrayed Mary Anning, the self-taught fossil hunter from England’s Jurassic Coast, who braved bitter storms and rock slides to unearth some of the first complete dinosaur-era skeletons. Now considered "The Greatest Fossil Hunter Ever Known," her pioneering paleontological discoveries fundamentally reshaped our understanding of prehistoric life and laid the foundation for modern paleontology and Darwin's theory of evolution. "Mary" showed them some of the fossils she mentioned and plastic models of what the creatures looked like while alive.
Before and after the presentation, families explored different kinds of prehistoric creatures & fossils. After the presentation, each child excavated their own fossil to take home.
As children arrived, had them sort, explore & identify fossils from this kit:
Costumed as Mary Anning, shared her story via a PowerPoint slide show, emphasizing the size & age of the fossils she found & the way the fossils changed the way people thought about the world.
Then had children move to stations where they could excavate fossils (or plastic dinosaurs) from plaster casts then match their finds to the cards provided, learn to draw dinosaurs, or further explore fossils.
Materials: Fossil sorting kit, plastic prehistoric models, fossils/plastic dinosaurs to excavate (purchased from Amazon), paper plates (to contain the sand from the excavation), how to draw dinosaur printouts, book display on dinosaurs & fossils.
Some sites had families sitting on the floor to excavate (we put out plastic sheets), others had tables & chairs. There is a little sand created but it isn't particularly messy (as long as kids don't wet the plaster). It is good to have wet paper towels for cleanup and a sink allows kids to wash their finds and find more details.
