Artists create art with a variety of two and three-dimensional media. Students will examine how a fossil is made. They will also examine real fossils and discuss the relative ages of fossils. Students will take their own fossil cast home with them and may paint them if time allows. Discuss with students how fossils are made in sedimentary rocks.
Some fossils are only the traces of a creature rather than the remains of the creature.
Show examples of how the impression of the shell left in the clay is the trace of that creature and that the plaster is like the mineral rich sediment which fills in the hole. The plaster hardens much faster than the sediments which finally create the fossil. Each student will be given a small piece of clay which they should press flat. Do not kneed the clay too long as it will stick to the shell 2. Each student should take one shell and press it into the flattened clay to create the mold.