My kids carried five gallon buckets on our recent fossil hunting trip, and filled them full of fossil dirt from the pungo piles in the parking lot at the Aurora Fossil Festival. They will slowly pour through the dirt, searching for fossils, over the next few months. When I saw buckets full of fossil dirt for sale at the Aurora Fossil Museum, I knew I wanted to bring a bucket home to give away. I picked up a few little visual guides to help with identification as well.
Jonny built a small set of nesting sifters to go with the bucket of dirt.
The sifter with 1/4 inch mesh nests into the sifter lined with window screen.
Fossil dirt can be sifted through the screens (about a cup at a time,) and the larger fossils will be caught by the 1/4 inch screen, while the tiny ones are caught be the window screen below. Water is poured over the dirt to aid the sifting process and make the fossils easier to see.
These are some of the fossilized sharks’ teeth and other fossils that Seth found while digging through the fossil dirt in Aurora.
Since arriving home, he has found countless tiny little shark’s teeth in his bucket of fossil dirt. You really have to look closely so that you don’t miss any. It’s a nice slow process that requires some concentration.
If you look really closely, you will even find teeny tiny fossilized fish vertebrae in the dirt.
If you would like to win this “fossil hunt in a box” leave a comment on this post.
Because shipping would be prohibitively expensive (the dirt if heavy!) this giveaway is only open to my U.S. readers. Thanks for understanding! I’ll use random number generator to select a winner this weekend, and announce the winner within this post.
Comments are closed and the winner is Jess: “WOW!!! My boys would love this!! They both already love to hunt for arrowheads, and this would be a great addition to their explorations. It would be even better to win this on my sons 7th Birthday today!!!! Keeping our fingers crossed!!!”
And now, here are a few links to help you get started if you or someone you know would like to start hunting for fossils in your own area!
First and most importantly, this site (fossilsites.com) includes a list of fossil sites in the U.S. and Canada. The U.S. is divided by state, and Canada by province and territory. After clicking on the area you are interested in, you will find a chart with information about each specific location including the types of fossils found there (Of course there are tons of different types of fossils out there, we just live in a region that is rich in fossilized sharks’ teeth.) In order to find more specific information than what is given, you will want to Google search the sites your are interested in. So for instance, if I click on “Virginia” on the main list, one of the fossil sites that pops up is “Carmel Church.” I then search “carmel church fossil hunting” on Google and a list of informative sites pops up, and hopefully I can figure out where exactly to go in order to hunt fossils there.
Seth’s favorite fossil site is Black River Fossils. The site is dedicated to fossils and artifacts and is full of photographs and “trip reports” which are essentially descriptions of people’s fossil hunting trips including videos, photos, and more. The trip reports are organized by state, and quite a few states are included.
A couple other websites dedicated to fossils, but more heavily weighted to the East Coast where we live are FossilGuy.com (lots of great photos there,) Phatfossils (click through the trip reports for photos and videos,) and The Fossil Forum.
Finally, here is a link to a tutorial on how to build a sifter for fossil hunting in water.
p.s. The knitting in my previous post: Knitting for bunny, not baby!
Amanda Huddleston says
This would be really great for my 10 year old son to incorporate into his homeschooling. Thanks for the opportunity.
Margaret says
My kids would love this! Thanks for the chance!
Shannon says
What a nice thing to do! I loved fossil hunting as a girl and would love to get the kids interested. Thank you!
Packrat Nomad says
Perfect for our new yard to explore and find old treasures! =)
Taryn says
This is right up my kiddos alley!
Lisa V. says
I posted a link to your site on my facebook page. Really hoping my number comes up so I can surprise my girls. Thanks again for all the links and information.
Lisa V. says
Would love to start fossil hunting with my girls. I’ve looked up the sites around Chicago but the one I’m interested in on Evanston beach I’m having trouble locating. Will keep at it though…I mean, how hard can it be to find right? 🙂
Melissa N says
This is incredibly cool! My boys (and girls) would love this. Thanks for the links too, I am going to see if there is any info. for Vermont.
Bria says
Thanks! I have wanted for years to teach my kids how to find fossils, but I am so clueless! I appreciate both the post and the giveaway.
Bobby Jo says
That is so awesome! What a sweet idea. My boys would have a blast with this! Thanks for the opportunity 🙂
SaraElizabeth says
Wow! My boys would love this!
tava/yarnmama says
Just shared and pinned!
tava/yarnmama says
Oh.My.Gosh. My son would FREAK out! How generous of you! Like I said in your last post- we don’t have all that fun stuff here in Seattle so this would be a treat indeed. Thank you!
Samantha says
Oh no, I think I’m too late, but my daughter would have loved to receive this!
What a great give-away. You are always so thoughtful!
Aimee says
Sounds like fun!
Ashley says
What a great give away my kids would love fossil hunting we have never done it!
Heather says
Such a generous giveaway, my son would LOVE this! Thank you for the opportunity and for sharing such wonderful glimpses of your life.
Phyllis at All Things Beautiful says
We did this with gem mining and it was a big hit.
Jess Mayer says
WOW!!! My boys would love this!! They both already love to hunt for arrowheads, and this would be a great addition to their explorations. It would be even better to win this on my sons 7th Birthday today!!!! Keeping our fingers crossed!!!
Rachel D says
My son would absolutely love this!
Alie says
Super fun give away! My kids would have a blast doing this for our summer 🙂
mjb says
My husband wants to get into metal detecting for historical things, but I think this would be fun too!
Libby says
My son would love this! great giveaway!
Kaitlin Parker says
This would be an awesome homeschooling lesson!
Melissa says
What a unique and tempting giveaway! Thoughtful of you to provide it along w/ all the extra fossil hunting information. : ) Fingers crossed! Thanks for the chance!
Heather says
This would be such fun for our family!
Erin says
Enter us please. My kids would love this for a fun Summer activity. I think my 15 year old might even take part 😉
zette says
this would make our collective days…..thanks so much.
Jessica says
I commented over here on my blog, too! http://alittlebunny.blogspot.com/2013/06/sweater-love-baby-love.html I can’t wait to delve into your links.
Pam A says
Goodness, what a fun giveaway! My girls would love this!
Lauren says
Hol moly, would my boys LOVE to win this giveaway! Thank you so much for a chance to win! So awesome.
margot says
I think this is one of the coolest giveaways I have ever seen, how fun! Thanks for sharing your family’s passion!
Kate says
This is so neat! My daughter would love this.
janet says
Love this! Thanks for the chance to win 🙂
Julia says
Wow! What a neat give away. Homeschooling science at its best.
Michele F. says
Oooh! I have four boys who would LOVE to do this! Thanks for the chance, and God bless.
susan b. says
awesome summertime activity!! thanks for sharing!
carissa says
So much fun this would be!!!!
jenny says
Shared!
jenny says
My boys woul die!!!! Sign me up!
jenny says
My boys would die!!! Sign me up!
Marcela : Naturally Fun Days says
Oh my! This is a great giveaway…. my kids would totally dig it… (had to say it! 🙂
Heidi says
Wow, you are dedicated! We saw something similar to this sifter today used for finding “gems” or special stones, which my younger daughter was smitten with. Thank you for this giveaway!
Jaci Lawrence says
I love it! Fantastic giveaway!
Katie says
Awesome giveaway!! We’re in MD so we could even pick it up 🙂
Jenn says
My oldest daughter loved reading your previous post and even sat her younger sister and brother down to show them the pictures and read it. Thank you so much for it and this wonderful giveaway.
Jenny says
Great fun! Thanks
Jenny says
Your last post was inspiring and interesting!! This is so kind of you to giveaway; thanks for the opportunity!
Jody says
Terrific giveaway! Sounds like such fun!
Rhonda H. says
Wow! This would be incredibly fun to do with my grandchildren. Thank you for the info!