Name the Fossil Game

On this page you can see the fossils used in the name the fossil game, along with periods and dates (mya = million years ago). Most (18 out of 26) are replicas. Year 1-2 will see the first 15; year 4-6 will see the first 20; year 5-6 will see all 25. To see a larger version of each fossil click the picture. Sizes can be seen from the background grid.  After the game, most of these fossils will be provided as plaster casts for the children to paint.

How the game is played

Children will be in teams and have a sheet of photos showing the animal (or plant) in its living form (either a painting of an extinct animal or a photo if the animal is still alive), as well as its name. Then children will look at all the fossils on a table (4 or 5 per table), each of which has a number, and they have to write the name of each fossil on an answer sheet next to the number. Depending on age the children also have to write an adaptive feature for each creature (KS1 will have to work out if the animal; lives on land, in the air, or in water; an adult will be needed to accompany each group for KS1 classes, to fill in the answer sheet and give help).

After 4 minutes each team goes to the next table, so eventually all children get to see all the fossils. After break we will go through the answers (I will show the photos on the whiteboard and the fossils to the children sitting on the carpet) and each team will get a score. At lunchtime, each child in the winning team can choose a real fossil as a prize (we will keep these to one side of the classroom until the children go home).

 
1. Archaeopteryx - the first known bird. Late Jurassic, 155mya.

Found in Bavaria, original now in Berlin Museum. Shows teeth and claws on wings as well as feathers.

 2. Tyrannosaurus rex tooth
Late Cretaceous, 65mya.

T rex teeth measure up to 30cm, not including the root, and had a serrated edge to aid ripping through flesh..
3. Ammonites - marine invertebrate with coiled shell, and a squidlike creature inside. A very common fossil, found on the British coastline and all around the world. These are Jurassic, 180mya, from Port Mulgrave in Yorkshire (I found it myself!). Children will see a wide variety of ammonites, most of them real.
 		 4. Dragonfly, Stenophlebia aequalis. Upper Jurassic, 145mya. From Bavaria.
5. Fish, Archaephippus asper, a type of spadefish. Eocene, 50mya. From Italy. 6. Lizard, homeosaurus - a swimming reptile from the Upper Jurassic, 150mya. From Solnhofen, Germany.
7. Shark tooth. Lamna otodus, Eocene, 55-45mya.

 8. Horseshoe (king) crab. Mesolimulus walchi. Upper Jurassic, 140mya. Similar to modern horseshoe crab. From Solnhofen, Germany.
9. Trilobites - Conocoryphe sulzeri. Middle Cambrian, 540mya. Very early and successful marine invertebrate; trilobites were around for about 300 million years and developed into many different forms. 10. Pterodactyl - Pterodactylus antiquus. A flying reptile, not a dinosaur but around at the same time. Upper Jurassic, 144mya.
11. Egg of oviraptor Dinosaurs laid eggs like modern reptiles. Oviraptor means 'egg thief' - on first discovery of these eggs it was thought this dinosaur was stealing another species' eggs, but it turned out the eggs were her own. Late Cretaceous, 75mya. 12. Femur of ice age bison. Bos species, from ice age, 30,000 years old. Found at Yarmouth, IOW.
 
13. Woolly mammoth tooth. Mammuthus primigenius, Pleistocene period, about 300,000 years ago. A complete molar, found in Kent. Related to the elephant, the mammoth developed fur to cope with the cold. Complete specimens have been found frozen in the ice in Siberia. Hunted to extinction about 11,000 years ago. 14. Tyrannosaurus rex claw.
Late Cretaceous, 65mya. T rex, like Triceratops, was one of the last dinosaurs to live, before the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous, caused by an asteroid collision.
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15. Starfish, Urasterella asperula, Lower Devonian, 410mya. Similar to modern brittle star. 16. Ichthyosaur skull. Predatory marine reptile similar in shape to a dolphin. Jurassic, 200mya. From Lyme Regis.
17. Millipede, Xyloiulus sigillariae, Carboniferous, 320mya. About 60 body segments and 20 legs, 4mm long. 18. Frog, Propelodytes wagneri, not a true frog as it dwelled in sand rather than water. Eocene, 50mya, from Germany.
19. Crinoid, Hapalocrinus elegans, Lower Devonian, 400mya. A sea lily, a marine invertebrate with feather-like feeding apparatus, still alive today. 20. Midge, trapped in amber. Probably Chironomidae. Eocene, about 50mya. From Russia. Can be seen with small magnifying glass, provided for children in the workshop.
21. Dinosaur footprint, possibly Megalosaurus, Jurassic, 150mya. From Buckinghamshire, UK.
22. Belemnite Part of a squid-like animal, from Staithes, Yorkshire, 180mya. This is the 'guard', a hard part inside the soft body of the animal.
23. Horsetails, or calamites. An ancient plant still alive today, although prehistoric species could grow as tall as trees. Carboniferous, 315mya. Found at Newhey Quarry, near Rochdale, by me! 24. Coral, 1mya, Western Australia.
25. Sand dollar, Encope californicus, from Mexico. Pliocene, 7mya. A form of sea urchin living in the sand, similar to modern species. Vertebra from an ichthyosaur. Found near Whitby, UK. Jurassic, 200mya.