NSEP Minis: Bone Hunters 6-10 Day 1
Welcome, Bone Hunters.
That's your squad name for the next two days. Today you're going to dig up fossils that are 270 million years old — right from under your own feet.
By the end of today: you'll have your own real fossils to take home, you'll know what a Dimetrodon is, and you'll have molded your very own clay dinosaur that dries overnight.
Look out the window.
Now imagine the parking lot, the buildings, the road — all of it underwater. A warm, shallow sea full of strange creatures.
That's what Hobbs looked like 270 million years ago. We call that time the Permian period.
Meet Dimetrodon.
Not a dinosaur. Came before dinosaurs. Had a giant sail on its back like a fin. Lived right here.
- Dimetrodon lived 270 million years ago
- Dinosaurs didn't appear until 230 million years ago — 40 million years later
- Dimetrodon is more closely related to you than to dinosaurs
📺 Quick watch — what do paleontologists actually do?
A paleontologist is a scientist who finds and studies fossils.
Today, that's you.
- 🖌️ Brush — gentle. Sweep sand away. Never poke or dig with this.
- 🤏 Tweezers — for picking up tiny pieces. Like a surgeon.
- 🔍 Magnifying glass — for getting close. Bring your eye to it.
Stand up. Arms straight out like a giant sail on your back. Walk around like a Dimetrodon for 60 seconds.
Get into your group. Find your bin. That sand has been waiting 270 million years for you.
- Real fossils — ancient sea creatures, you get to keep what you find
- Rough rocks (gems before they're polished)
- Polished gems
- Real fossil sand (look closely!)
Each kid grabs a brush, tweezers, and a magnifying glass. Set them on the towel next to your bin.
Sweep sand to one side of the bin. Look carefully. When you see a shape — STOP. Show your group.
Then carefully lift it out with tweezers and place it on the towel.
Halfway through, your teacher will say "deeper layer." Now you can dig down to find what's underneath. Different things were buried at different depths — just like in real paleontology.
Bring your finds to the lab table. Time to figure out what you dug up.
- Fossils — things that look like creatures or bones
- Rough rocks — bumpy, dull (these are gems before polishing)
- Polished gems — smooth, shiny
Each group picks one favorite find. Hold it up. Tell the room:
- What is it? (fossil / rock / gem)
- What do you think it was when it was alive?
Show your finds to the teacher one at a time. They'll tell you what each one is and tell you something cool about it — shark teeth, ammonites, crinoid stems, stingray plates. You're being a real scientist now.
Real museums make casts of fossils using molds. They press soft material into a mold shape and let it harden. Today you do the same.
Push clay INTO your dino mold. Pop it out. You just made a fossil cast.
- 1 ball of air-dry clay (per kid)
- Silicone dino mold tray (shared at table)
- 1 wooden skewer (per kid) for signing your name
- 1 paper plate (per kid) to set your work on
Choose one shape from the mold tray. Take a small piece of clay — about the size of a golf ball.
Push the clay all the way into your mold shape. Press HARD into every corner — especially the legs, the head, the tail.
Bend the silicone mold gently and peel your clay dino out. There's your fossil cast! Set it carefully on your paper plate.
Use the skewer to write your initials on the bottom of your dino. Set it on your labeled plate. It'll be hard as a rock by tomorrow.
One-word check-in: what's one word for how today felt?
Go around the circle. One word each. Then we're done.
Your clay dino will be dry and hard. You'll paint it, name it, and meet REAL ancient fossils up close with magnifying glasses. You'll take home your dino, your story, the fossils you dug up today, and a glow-in-the-dark fossil egg.