Natural Sciences and Technology Grade 5-B ... - Thunderbolt Kids

Teacher's Note
Of course, it's much more fun if every child can make his or her
own fossil, so try to arrange the lesson for this to happen.
Day One:
1. First, spread Vaseline over the back of your leaf, or your
chicken bone.
2. Next, take your cardboard container to your teacher. Pour the
fresh Plaster of Paris mixture into the container. The Plaster of
Paris will begin to set hard in about 10 minutes, so you must
be ready with your bone of leaf.
3. Now put your leaf or bone onto the top of the wet Plaster of
Paris, and press it gently into the plaster. The bone must go in
only half-way as you see in in the picture below. The leaf must
go only far enough to leave the shapes of its ribs in the plaster.
Press the bone only half-way into the plaster.
4. Leave the plaster to set (to get hard). Notice how hot your
container becomes while the plaster is setting.
Day Two:
5. First, pull out the leaf or the bone. It will come out easily
because the plaster does not stick onto the Vaseline.
146 Earth and Beyond