Friday, July 18, 2014

Paleontology Rocks 1

A beautiful Sauropod!
This week at Camp Explorations we learned all about paleontology.  From the beginning of Earth's history to dinosaurs and other prehistoric reptiles, we've discovered many new things!  On Monday, we learned all about one of our favorite topics: dinosaurs!  Campers learned how to distinguish between a dinosaur and other animals, how large dinosaurs actually were, and even got to make their own sauropods!  To top it all off, the groups dug through Styrofoam strata to find fossils and other objects.


Checking out some fossil footprints.
Tuesday was all about life before the dinosaurs.  We made paper timelines to represent the Earth's formation to now.  Ask to see your camper's timeline and note that much of life is very far from the beginning of Earth's history!  Groups also started working on their fossil artworks and saw real fossils from the Paleozoic era!

Some beautiful fossil art!
Making a timeline of the Earth!





























On Wednesday, we studied fossils. Campers learned how different fossils are formed and the importance of fossil footprints.  Ask your camper what can be learned from footprints!  We also played games to learn about how rare it is for something to actually become fossilized.

Learning how fossils are formed
Studying the footprints!  Ask what happened at this scene!
A Plesiosaur sighting!
On Thursday, we learned about other prehistoric reptiles.  Campers got another tour of the Museum's Prehistoric Life Exhibit to learn about other animals that lived during the time of the dinosaurs, but were not actually dinosaurs.  We watched clips of Dinosaur Train about Sanajeh (ask why the show is wrong about the pronunciation!) and Mosasaurus to learn even more about other reptiles.  The  groups finished up their fossil art pieces, as well as made Plesiosaur decorations.



The canoe is a popular place to journal
On Friday, the campers learned how real Paleontologists work with hands-on experience!  They sifted through a dig site and found their very own fossils!  We saw even more of the Prehistoric Life Exhibit and worked on scavenger hunts of the floors.  The groups worked together to answer some fun dinosaur trivia.  See if your camper can help you answer these questions!  The week was topped off by a very special visit from our friend Sarah the Triceratops!
Finding fossils!














The campers loved Sarah!
It's been a fun and exciting week!  We hope your campers enjoyed it as much as we did!  See you around the Museum!

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