Rocks and Fossils Workshop

Rocks & Fossils

Fantastic resources and well-planned activities which fully engaged the children and were very relevant to the curriculum." Year 3 teacher Tiffield School.

"Your collection is truly wonderful and the range of activities excellent." Science Co-ordinator, Barnes Primary School.

Get hands-on with rocks and fossils (and soils) in this workshop. Examine, compare, describe, identify, sort, group and draw a wide variety of specimens. Investigate the properties of rocks, and their uses in our everyday lives (KS2) or their role in the rock cycle (KS3). Learn how fossils get inside rocks (optional), and what they can tell us about prehistoric life. Examine rock-forming minerals and the composition of soils, and ask Dr Helen questions.

KS2 Key Stage 2 Rocks activity at school workshop for KS2 rocks and fossils national curriculum topi

Children work in groups and rotate around a series of rocks and fossils "stations" during the workshop....

Rocks: describing textures, what sort of grains are (sedimentary) rocks made of, identifying different crystals in igneous/metamorphic rocks, composition of soils, matching rocks with things made from that rock.

Fossils: sand-brushing to find fossils, "who's fossil?" (identifying the body part), sorting mixed-up fossils, drawing fossils - can be done in age-order (before/during/after dinosaurs).

There are also a worksheets to fill in.

Fossil trilobite in primary school science workshop on KS2 rocks and fossils topic

The workshop covers KS2 topic "Rocks & Fossils". For KS3, the workshop can enrich studies of the rock cycle, resources, environmental changes of the past, and can be combined with other workshops (eg. Go Mapping, Geochallenge).

In this Rocks and Fossils Workshop don't forget to look out for: a rock that contains metal, a rock that can be used to make toothpaste, rocks that can burn, rocks that have been squashed flat, rocks made in a desert, a smelly rock (has oil inside), a salty rock (yes, you can lick it), rocks from a volcano, and much more.

Can you spot which type of creature your fossil is? ..... or which body part? We begin to "think like a palaeontologist" and try to work out what these fossil clues tell us about past life. What did they eat? What ate them? How did they move? How old are they?

Rocks and Fossils collection for KS2 workshop, visiting scientist, Key Stage 2 science STEM school w

There are 30-40 different rock types, and about 20 crystals, to examine. The fossils in this workshop include various shells, bones, ammonites, trilobites, belemnites, dinosaur fossils (teeth, bone pieces, eggshell fragments, fossil poo), sharks teeth, fish skeletons, insects, sea urchins, leaves, wood, a mammoth tooth, corals, mammal bones (woolly rhino, bison). There are also replicas of rare or valuable fossils including: dinosaur bones, skulls, horns and claws as well as mammal bones and teeth (eg. sabre-toothed tiger), and amphibian skeletons. There are worksheets to fill in, and we end with a Q & A session.