Kids' Activities: The Magic Bag Is A Great Way to Introduce Kids To Fossils

My long-time enjoyment of earth science, especiallythe topic was fossils, I didnt give any clues as to the
when it included fossil activities, had me doing earthcontents of the bags.
science activities for kids from the time my ownInstantly the air was filled comments: Its round! Mine is
children were little ones. So when my middle schoollike a cylinder. Mines got ridges.
asked me to pick something to teach for six weeksThen speculation and conjecture: I think this is that
that I just enjoyed, this was the first thing that came toanimal that looks like a clam. I think this could be a
mind. It was set up to be more like a club than a class,tooth. I know; its a snail!
so while there were definitely learning goals, the mostI had the students pass their bags to the next student
important goal was to have fun and enjoy ourselves. Iand compare observations and guesses. Eventually
knew I should include fossil activities in my lesson plans.they were begging me to open the bags.
There had to be a lot of hands-on kids' activities withBut before we did, I asked them to tell me what they
an emphasis on fun.knew about ancient sea life. There were lots of
When I got my class list, I saw immediately that I wouldpictures in their minds; some were accurate. Then I
need to do some revisions in my plans: I had a smallasked them to imagine which of those species might
class, but it included several students with learninghave left fossil remains. We talked about how fossils
disabilities and behavioral problems. These were notare formed.
going to be internally motivated kids. I knew that myFinally, as a last observation, I asked the students to
most important class would be the first one. I neededguess at the animal contained in their bag, by either
an earth science activity that would get the studentsname or species. When fossil was finally revealed
hooked on the subject right away.more questions, especially about identification and
I had seen an activity with younger students called thebehavior, waited to be answered.
magic bag. It capitalized on the unknown and theirIf this had been a research class, there would have
natural curiosity. But these were middle schoolbeen more than enough curiosity to compel these
students-and some tough ones at that! I knew Id havestudents on to further study. In this class, our next
to have a pretty solid subject area-something thatactivity was to do a real fossil dig, with real fossils. The
could intrigue and impress.magic bag earth science activity had the students
I placed a small fossil in enough velvet bags for eachthinking, talking and ready for more fossil activities.
student to have his/her own. Before handing them toAs kids activities go, The Magic Bag is at the top of
the students, I asked them to explore the contents ofthe list for ease of use and enthusiastic student
the bag without opening it. Since the students knewinvolvement.