This is a great idea that can be developed as a field trip
, summer activity or birthday party. I got the idea originally from our local zoo. The zoo personnel hosted a dino dig as a type of fundraiser for the zoo. The event began in a classroom with a video that described a few of the basics of paleontology and some information about different types of dinosaurs. Then participants were taken to the field for an actual dig experience. The children got so excited when they actually began uncovering the bones. The bones recovered were then taken back to the classroom placed together to construct a particular dinosaur. Participants had to try and determine which type of dinosaur they had discovered. They then sketched out the dinosaur the discovered. The event was a very fun learning experience. When I discovered that my sons class would soon be covering a section on dinosaurs in science, I asked his teacher if she would like me to try and set up an educational dino dig field trip for the class. She was very excited about the idea and asked me to go ahead and plan it out. I worked closely with my local zoo to get the event planned and scheduled. Prior to the field trip the students studied about dinosaurs and paleontology. Then to help get the children excited about the upcoming field trip I put together a little paleontology supply pack for each one of them. I made each one of the children a simple draw sting backpack with some inexpensive material. I decorated each one with a dinosaur cut from some dinosaur fabric. Each back pack contained a small hand shovel, a brush to brush away the dirt (I used inexpensive paint brushes), a pencil and paper to sketch what they found, a small bottle water and a small hand held fan (these I got free from a business). This field trip was a success. The children had a great time being paleontologists for a day and they learned something to.
I later had a friend develop this idea for a birthday party. She retrieved some large bones from the meat department of the local grocery store, which she used for the dinosaur bones. After boiling the bones to clean and sterilize them, she buried them in a mound of dirt in her back yard. The children then set out on their dinosaur hunting adventure. This was really a unique party idea and the children had a great time. The children at the party got really dirty but had a great time digging for dinosaur bones. This was a minimum cost party with maximum fun.
For more fun and unique ideas visit www.homemakerstip.com.