National Park Service

U.S. Department of Interior

Junior Paleontologist

Activity Book

Ages 5 - 12

Explore • Learn • Protect
Become a Junior Paleontologist

The National Park Service protects natural places and historic 

sites all across the United States. Today, more than 

230 national parks are known to preserve fossils! 

There are many places to see and discover these fossils 

in person.

In this book you can learn about ancient life, complete

fun activities, and explore just some of the national parks 

that offer you a look into the past.

Learn about Earth’s history, ancient plants and animals, and 

changes to past climate and environments.

Protect our national parks, including fossils and the rocks in 

which they are found.

Explore the ways that paleontologists work, and the methods 

and tools they use to understand ancient life. 

As a Junior Paleontologist you will:

Activities in this book are marked with an age indicator. Look for the symbols below:

SAUROPOD

Ages 8 and up. 

SABER-TOOTH CAT

Ages 10 and up.

TRILOBITE

Ages 5 and up.

How old are you? ______ That is the number of activities you must complete to become a Junior 

Paleontologist. Feel free to complete more activities if you have the time. 

Paleo-Park Passport

More than 230 national park areas preserve fossils. Some of these parks were created specifically because 

of the fossils. Use this page to collect cancellation stamps from fossil parks you visit. 

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, NE Dinosaur National Monument, UT & CO John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, OR

Badlands National Park, SD Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, CO Joshua Tree National Park, CA

Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, AK Fossil Butte National Monument, WY Mammoth Cave National Park, KY

Big Bend National Park, TX Glacier National Park, MT Petrified Forest National Park, AZ

Channel Islands NP, CA Grand Canyon National Park, AZ Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, AK

Death Valley National Park, CA & NV Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument, ID Zion National Park, UT

After completing the activities, there are two ways to receive your Junior Paleontologist badge.

1) Return the completed book to a ranger at a participating park.

2) Visit http://nature.nps.gov/geology/nationalfossilday/jrpaleo.cfm for information on how to

 have a badge mailed to you. 
Road to Fossilization (#1) 

Start

To Play: Use something small like a dime or small candy as 

your game piece and place it on start. 

With a partner, take turns flipping a coin to move your game 

piece: heads you move two spaces, tails you move three 

spaces. 

Follow the instructions on the purple spaces along the way. 

The first player to discover the fossil wins!

It takes a lot of luck and good timing to become a fossil. Big creatures with hard 

parts (bones and shells) that die where sediment is collecting have the best chance at 

preservation. Fragile or small things are rarer fossils.

Follow the Road to Fossilization and discover more about how fossils form. 

Discovered!

Organism dies 

and escapes destruction

by scavengers.

MOVE AHEAD 1 SPACE

 Organism stays at 

 the surface and does

not get buried quickly. 

 LOSE A TURN

Body parts were 

scattered by wind or 

water before burial.

MOVE BACK 3 SPACES

Remains of the organism

are turned slowly to 

stone over time.

 MOVE AHEAD 1 SPACE

 Erosion of rocks 

 exposes fossils, but 

 bones are damaged.

MOVE BACK 1 SPACE

 Paleontologist 

 makes a bad map 

 of the fossil site. 

MOVE BACK 3 SPACES

Fossils are rare and cannot be replaced. It is exciting to find one, 

but important to protect it and keep it in place. 

If you find a fossil in a national park, leave the fossil where it is 

and share your discovery with a park ranger.

Paleontologists 

are very important 

in national parks. They 

help the National Park 

Service protect fossils 

by finding them and 

teaching visitors to 

protect them. 

(Death)
Vertebrate Fossils

Animals with backbones (vertebrae) 

are known as vertebrates. Mammal, 

fish, and dinosaur bones or teeth are 

all examples of vertebrate fossils. 

Fossils:_________________ 

Invertebrate Fossils

Animals without backbones are 

known as invertebrates. Shells and 

exoskeletons help organisms like clams 

and corals to be preserved.

Fossils:_________________

Plant Fossils

Fossil plant remains include petrified 

wood, leaves, cones, seeds, pollen, and 

sometimes even flowers. Amber is tree 

sap and can preserve other organisms. 

Fossils:_________________

Fossil Types (#3)

Trace Fossils

Trace fossils–tracks, burrows, and 

coprolites (ancient poop!)–are evidence 

of organisms interacting with their 

environment. 

Fossils:_________________

A B

C D

E

F

PALEONTOLOGISTS and ARCHEOLOGISTS are scientists who 

dig and study old things from the ground. They both use the 

same tools and techniques to look for things in sedimentary 

rocks, but there are some big differences too.

ARCHEOLOGISTS study the remains of human history, culture 

and civilizations. PALEONTOLOGISTS study the remains of 

past animals and plants and how they have changed. 

Fossil Hunters (#2)

A paleontologist uses fossils to understand the story of Earth’s history. This story includes 

the plants and animals that once lived on Earth. Evidence of this past life is found by 

paleontologists within sedimentary rocks. These rocks are made of the broken pieces of 

other rocks called sediment that have become compacted or cemented together over 

time. 

Sediment can be clay, sand, or gravel. Rocks can form on land or in water. An ancient 

beach might leave behind sand which forms into sandstone. Ocean sediments could 

develop into marine shale made of clay, or limestone from broken down shells. If the 

remains of an animal or plant, like bones or leaves, are covered by sediments, a fossil 

may become preserved in the rock formed from these sediments. 

Now it is your turn to hunt for fossil-bearing 

rocks and the stories they hold! 

Find the underlined words in the text 

above in the word search. Words may go up, 

down, or diagonally. 

When you finish, write down the unused 

letters in order in the spaces below to reveal 

a hidden message! 

b p i g o b o n e s

s a n d s t o n e r

s l m a e l c l a j

u e n i d o r l m p

f o s s i l s i a a

l n e o m n t m r y

a t i m e s o e i l

n o s o n h g s n i

c l s h t e r t e t

i o w i a l l o l f

e g i n r l d n c t

n i h e y s e e m k

t s a n i m a l s a

l t l p l a n t s !

Paleontology vs. Archeology

Vertebrate: E Invertebrate: B, F

 Trace: A, C Plant: D

“__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ , __ __ __ __ __ __ __ 

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ 

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __”

Hint: A is not a plant fossil. 

Did you know that footprints made by an ancient animal or the imprint of a leaf can be considered a 

fossil? Fossils are evidence of life preserved within a geologic context. Paleontologists study both the 

fossil and the rocks that they are preserved in to understand past life forms and the environment in 

which they lived.

Write the letter of each picture in the box of the fossil type it represents. 

Fossil shark tooth Ancient arrowhead
Paleontologist’s Scrapbook (#4)

Paleontologists are scientists who study what life was like on Earth a very long time ago. They do this by 

“reading” fossils and rocks for clues about past environments and life. Look at the pictures below and 

fill in the missing word to find out some of what paleontologists do.

__________________ a jaw bone out of 

the rock with a rock hammer. 

________________ glue to a 

petrified wood stump in the field. 

__________________ away sediment from 

bones inside an opened plaster cast. 

________________ at fossil bones with 

the help of a microscope. 

_________________________________________________________

For every 

hour they spend in 

the field, paleontologists 

spend at least three hours 

in the lab. Imagine that 

for every hour you spent 

playing outside you then 

had three hours of 

homework! 

______________fossil bones in 

plaster jacket for transport. 

 WORD BANK

 Applying Digging

 Sealing Looking

 Brushing

Imagine yourself as a paleontologist. Draw a picture of yourself 

at work and write a caption to describe it. 

Paleontologists use many tools to find and clean fossils. 

Draw lines to match the images to what they are used for. 

Wipe away sediment from fossils

Move large amounts of sediment 

Wrap up fossil material before applying plaster

Pick grains of sediment out of cracks

Break open fossil-bearing rocks

Take notes on fossil collection site

Toilet Paper

Rock Hammer

Dental Picks Brush

Notebook

Shovel

The Right Stuff (#5)

Find the Fossil (#6)

It is not always easy to see fossils in rocks.

Search the pictures below carefully 

and circle your 9 fossil finds.

The fossils in these pictures are very different 

from each other. Each lived at a different time 

and formed in different ways. 

More information about fossil types can be 

found on page 6 of this book. _________________________________________________________
Geologic Time (#7) It’s All Relative (#8)

At Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, 

the rocks form neat layers. You can see their 

different colors in this picture. These layers 

can help paleontologists find out the age of 

a fossil by using relative age dating. 

Relative age dating is a way to compare 

the age of different fossils in a section of 

rock based upon their position. This gives a 

general idea of what is older or younger. 

To get exact ages, paleontologists use 

absolute age dating techniques like testing 

the minerals of volcanic rocks.

Grand 

Canyon National 

Park is home to a great 

collection of Paleozoic 

fossils. They’re hiding 

in these layers!

Using the rock column to the left and the rules 

found above, compare the ages of the fossils and 

answer some questions.

(HINT: Use the timeline on page 9 to help you!)

Earth formed 4.6 billion years ago. We can divide that time into smaller sections called eons, 

eras, and periods. Paleontologists are interested in these different times because each had unique 

plants and animals.

2 billion 

years ago:

Stromatolite 

colonies 

formed in 

shallow warm 

waters. 

 

440 million 

years ago:

Cycads and 

ferns grow on 

land.

125 million 

years ago:

Flowering 

plants 

appear.

500 million 

years ago:

Trilobites and 

fish dominate 

the seas.

220 million 

years ago:

Dinosaurs like 

Coelophysis

appear. 

25 Thousand 

years ago:

Smilodon

and other 

mammals 

dominate.

From 4.6 billion years ago until 542 

million years ago was a time period 

called the Precambrian. 

If we made this timeline to scale the 

red bar would take up 4 pages!

Which is older: the mammal jaw or the sea worm?

Which is older: the trilobite or the jellyfish?

What time period is not shown?

Which organism was around for the most time periods?

The colors below represent 4 major divisions of geologic time–the Precambrian, Paleozoic Era, 

Mesozoic Era, and Cenozoic Era. First, draw a line from each picture of a major event to where 

it would fall on the time line. Then, using the pictures and events as clues, label each colored 

section as one of the following Ages: Mammals, Fishes, Early Life, or Reptiles.

Precambrian: Early Life Paleozoic: Fishes

 Cenozoic: Mammals Mesozoic: Reptiles

Precambrian Paleozoic Cenozoic

clam

clam

mammal jaw

brachiopod

trilobite

snail

zooplankton jellyfish

sea worm

phytoplankton

CENOZOIC MESOZOIC PALEOZOIC PRECAMBRIAN

4.6 Billion Years Ago

251 Million Years Ago

Mass Extinction

542 Million Years Ago

Explosion of Diverse Life

65 Million Years Ago 

Mass Extinction

TODAY

RULES OF RELATIVE AGE DATING:

#1: Sediments were originally laid down flat.

#2: The oldest rocks are found on the bottom.

#3: Fossils in the same layer are the same age. 

10
Climate Change (#9)

The story of life on Earth began in a time known as the 

Precambrian. During this time soft-bodied creatures like 

worms and jellyfish lived in the world’s oceans while the land 

remained barren. Looking at the world today, we can see that 

things have changed a lot. 

In Glacier National Park, Montana, we can learn about climate 

change from some of the first life forms: ancient plant-like 

organisms called algae (al-gee). Precambrian algae formed 

large colonies called stromatolites in warm, tropical waters. 

Over time these colonies were buried under sea sediment and 

turned to stone. 

The landscape also tells us about climate change. When the 

Rocky Mountains formed, rocks that had been at the bottom 

of the ocean were folded and pushed up high into the sky 

while the North American continent moved north. Glaciers 

carved the landscape creating rugged mountains that we see 

today and paleontologists find ancient tropical algae under ice 

and snow!

You can practice stewardship–protecting 

natural areas–by helping to preserve 

Yukon-Charley Rivers in this game. 

Follow the directions to save squares of 

land one at a time.

You can trace the transition from Precambrian 

life to more complex creatures in YukonCharley Rivers National Preserve in Alaska. 

This park protects one of the best continuous 

records of ancient life in the world – from 

800 million to 40 million years ago. 

Fossils found there include everything from 

Precambrian sea creatures like jellyfish and 

worms to Pleistocene pollen from land plants 

that lived in the area tens of thousands of 

years ago. 

The fossils 

found within the 

preserve are not the only 

treasures. Gold mines were 

active through the 1930s, with 

the last mine closing in 1977. 

Creating this national preserve 

has saved these fossils for 

study and discovery.

Yukon-Charley 

Rivers National Preserve, AK

To Play: Take turns connecting 2 dots with a solid line. When a player’s line makes a square, that 

player puts initials the square and takes another turn. The player with the most squares wins!

Buried Treasures (#10)

Citizens concerned with 

protecting a natural or historic 

area may work to get that place 

designated as a national park. 

What else can you do to protect 

important areas around you? 

Ranger Talk

Climate has changed many times in the Earth’s history. 

Many scientists are studying how climate is changing 

today. Ask a Ranger:

Does this park have any evidence of climate change?

How have plants and animals changed here over time?

Fossilized stromatolites in Glacier 

National Park, Montana.

Modern stromatolites forming near 

Shark Bay, Australia. 

Climate 

change is not a 

thing of the past. Today, 

scientists are studying how 

quickly temperatures and 

weather patterns are changing 

on Earth. With over 6 billion 

people on the planet, 

humans are affecting the 

11 climate. 

12
Connect the dots to see a Paleozoic Era 

fish called a placoderm. 

Some 

fish, called 

placoderms, 

had hard armor 

and sharp jaws 

making them fierce 

predators of the 

Paleozoic seas.

Plants 

began to take 

root on land, 

with ferns and 

conifers providing 

food to land 

animals.

Fish-like 

creatures 

moved onto 

land, using strong 

fins to move 

about the 

shores.

Other 

sea life, like the 

trilobites, also thrived 

in the Paleozoic waters. 

Trilobites were marine 

arthropods, meaning they 

are distantly related to 

shrimp, lobsters, and 

crabs! 

Fossil 

fish from the 

Paleozoic range 

in size from less 

than 1 foot up 

to 33 feet 

long. 

The Paleozoic began with a huge change in life called the Cambrian Explosion. Many never-beforeseen creatures with shells and new body designs are found in rocks from this time period. The late 

Paleozoic Era is known as the Age of the Fishes because the first fish appeared and rapidly evolved 

during this time period.

Read the bubbles of information to find out more about the Paleozoic era and answer the questions.

Would your hometown have 

been dry during this time?

.1

.2

.3

.4

.5 .6

.7 .8 .9

.10 .11 .12

.13

.14

.15 .16

.17

.18

.19

.20

.21

.22

.23

.24

.25

.26

.27

.28 .29

.30

.31

.32

.33

.35 .34 .36 .37

.38

.39

.40

.41

.42 .43

.44

.45

.46

.47

.48

.49 .50

.51

.52

Wet and Wild (#11)

What animals today live part of their lives in the 

water and part on land? 

What do you think a trilobite felt like?

How are these plants 

different than those near 

your home?

Mammoth 

Cave National Park, 

Kentucky, formed out 

of Paleozoic limestone. 

This limestone eroded 

as water flowed 

through and created 

magnificent 

caves.

At the end 

of the Paleozoic, a 

huge extinction event 

changed life on the planet 

once again. 70% of all 

land organisms and 95% 

of all marine species 

became extinct at 

that time. 

United States during the late Paleozoic Era, 400 million years ago.

North America 

looked very 

different during this 

time. It was near the 

equator with water 

covering much 

of today’s dry 

land.

13 14
A-maze-ing Finds (#12) The Real Jurassic Park (#13)

Dinosaur National Monument, Utah and Colorado preserves an amazing 

record of Jurassic fossils including dinosaur bones and fossilized clams. 

Dinosaurs, just like living things today, were specially suited for their 

environments. Plant-eating Diplodocus and meat-eating Allosaurus both had 

to find food and shelter in the environments of the time. 

Imagine what the Jurassic forest of conifers, ferns, and cycads would offer to 

a dinosaur that lived there. Draw your Jurassic creature below. 

The Mesozoic Era began with recovery from the 

Permian Extinction. During the Triassic Period, 

reptiles started taking over many environments 

including the hot, forested environments of 

North America. 

Today, you can imagine the 250 foot tall trees 

that lived here by visiting the fossilized trees of 

Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona.

The Triassic marks the first appearance of dinosaurs. One of the 

earliest dinosaurs, the 4 foot tall Coelophysis (see-low-fi-sus), 

lived among the giant trees in Petrified Forest.

Early dinosaurs were often smaller than the giants of later times 

like Tyrannosaurus rex or Stegosaurus.

Complete the maze to find your way 

through the petrified tree stump.

START END

Cycads 

have tough, 

scaley bark on their 

trunks and bright 

cones. Can you find 

one on the next 

page?

To become petrified, the trees above were covered in wet 

sediment. Over time the chemicals in the trees were replaced 

with other chemicals and the wood turned to stone. 

Grass and 

flowering plants 

did not appear until 

the end of the Mesozoic 

Era, about 120 million 

years ago. Until then 

ferns, cycads, and 

conifers dominated. 

15 16
Everything is Bigger in Texas (#14)

Giants ruled the late Mesozoic Era. Paleontologists have found the remains of dinosaurs, flying 

reptiles called pterosaurs, and others in the Cretaceous rocks of Big Bend National Park, Texas. 

These enormous creatures (some bigger than blue whales!) dominated the land for millions of years 

before they became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous Period, about 120 million years ago.

Deinosuchus: 6 foot jaws

Alamosaurus: 100 feet long

Quetzacoatlus: 40 foot wingspan

You: ______ feet tall

Could you have fit inside the mouth of a hungry Deinosuchus? Could your parents?

____________________________________________________________________________

How many people your height could lay down for a ride on the wings of Quetzacoatlus?

____________________________________________________________________________

How many feet longer is the Alamosaurus than you are tall?

____________________________________________________________________________

Make up your own question to ask a parent or friend: ______________________________

____________________________________________________________________________?

What’s in a name?

Deinosuchus (di-no-soo-kuss) means 

terrible crocodile. 

 Quetzacoatlus (ket-za-co-ot-lus) was 

 named for the Aztec feathered serpent 

 god Quetzalcoatl. 

Alamosaurus (al-uh-mo-sore-us) was not named for the 

famous Texas landmark, but for the rock formation in which 

the bones were first found (Ojo Alamo formation, New 

Mexico). 

Big Bend 

National Park also 

preserves evidence of the 

Cretaceous-Tertiary

(K-T) boundary. This is the layer 

which separates the Mesozoic 

Era from the Cenozoic Era and 

contains evidence of a large 

impact thought to be one of 

the causes of dinosaur 

extinction. 

Compare yourself to these giant creatures and find out how big they really were! Fill in your 

height and answer the questions. 

17 18
Cenozoic Round-Up (#15) Eye of the Beholder (#16)

Paleontologists find and study fossils, but they often rely on artists to bring ancient creatures to life. 

By studying fossils and comparing them to living plants or animals artists can create a picture of 

what the organism might have looked like when it was alive. 

Examples of an artist’s reconstructions of 52 million year old fish from Fossil Butte National 

Monument, Wyoming are shown below. Match the 2 illustrations to the fossils (blue box) they 

were based on.

With the extinction of dinosaurs and giant reptiles 65 million years ago, mammals were able 

to diversify and grow in numbers. Evidence of these recent wild creatures is well represented in 

the fossil record. Some look like animals alive today.

Diplomystus dentatus Knightia alta

Phareodus encaustus Knightia eocaena

Crossopholis magnicaudatus

Now it is your turn! Draw what you think the Cenozoic fish below would have 

looked like during its life. Imagine what colors or patterns its scales might have had. 

It is unusual for 

soft-bodied animals to 

be well preserved. Fish with 

tough bones and scales have 

a better chance. Quick burial 

in calm lake waters preserved 

amazing complete fish 

skeletons. 

If you could choose one of the animals above to be a pet, which would you choose? Why?

Paleontologists name plants and animals based on characteristics such as: what they look like, what 

they eat, and where they were found. What would you name your new pet?

What could you buy at the grocery store to feed your new pet?

Guess the modern relatives of each animal and write them on the cards. 

Then answer the questions below.

19 20
What kind of fossils might you find where you live? Here is a map of parks that preserve fossils across 

the United States. How many are in your home state? You can find out more about fossil parks near 

you at http://nature.nps.gov/geology/nationalfossilday/fossil_parks.cfm.

Fossils are such a popular resource that many states have chosen a “State Fossil” or “State 

Dinosaur”. Typically, the State Fossil represents a fossil which is well known or common in that state.

Check at your library or on the internet to find your state’s special fossil. If your state hasn’t chosen 

one, choose a fossil to represent your state. You can even write a letter to your state legislature and 

encourage them to adopt your fossil choice as the state fossil! 

State: Draw your state fossil below!

Fossil:

Where was it found?:

How does it represent your state?

State Fossils Fossil Nation

The map above shows more than 230 parks that preserve fossils, but one is missing! 

In 1922 Fossil Cycad National Monument was established in South Dakota. This 

monument preserved one of the largest deposits of Cretaceous cycad fossils (palmlike tree), many nearly perfectly preserved. The fossils were so spectacular, in fact, that 

researchers collected nearly all of the fossils from the monument. Removal of fossil 

material was so great that the site was withdrawn as a national park unit in 1956. 

The National Park Service is much more careful with fossil resources today. With the 

help of Junior Paleontologists like you, we can protect the remaining fossils from 

disappearing.

Hawaii Alaska

Puerto Rico and

Virgin Islands Guam

Fossils Where You Are

In addition to the National Park Service, many other Federal, state, county, and local areas and 

museums provide opportunities to see fossils and learn about paleontology.

Draw or describe fossils from the site you are visiting today, or would like to visit in the future!

22
Illustration

Content

Krista L. Jankowski

Layout and Design

Krista L. Jankowski

Caroline Marshall Hill

Photographs and Images

Krista L. Jankowski - Grinnell Glacier background photo, pg 11

Catherine Riihimaki - Stromatolites, Glacier National Park, pg 11

Ron Blakey - US map, pg 13 

TheColoringSpot.com - Precambrian life, pg 10

Additional images courtesy of the National Park Service.

Additional Support

Vincent Santucci Marcia Fagnant Jeff Wolin Annette Rousseau

Jim F. Wood Arvid Aase Matt Greuel Erica Clites

Jason Kenworthy Victoria Stauffenberg Christie Young

Melanie Ransmeier Bruce Nash Allyson Mathis

Elena Evans Jeff Selleck Laine Weber

National Park Service

U.S. Department of Interior

National Park Service 2009. Revised 2011. Illustrations © individual artists. Used with permission.

Find out more at: http://nature.nps.gov/geology/nationalfossilday/

Ethan Wood

Errolyn Weston Daley

Jonathan Steadman

Jose Garcia

Andrew Hartsock

Simone?! Satchell

Thea Price-Eckles

Jennifer McDonald

Jessie Katz

Elizabeth Fodde-Reguer

Hermes Arriola

Celebrate National Fossil Day!