Can’t get to Charmouth beach but want to look for Jurassic fossils? Then why not contact the Jurassic Coast Team to book the Fossil Dig for your next education event.
Funded by Natural England and developed by the Jurassic Coast Team, the Fossil Dig helps children and young people experience the excitement of discovering fossils with immediate satisfaction!
The boxes work by covering resin fossil replicas (which are fixed onto the base) with damp play sand, and then using chubby paintbrushes to gently “excavate” the fossil. There are three boxes available; two boxes (80cm x 80cm) have identical fossils consisting of ammonites, fish and belemnites and the large box contains a skeleton of an Ichthyosaur which is 1.5m long!
The Fossil Dig boxes travelled all over the Jurassic Coast last summer including Sidmouth Museum, Devon County Show, Dorset County Museum, Durlston Country Park, Loders Primary School, an INSET day in Hampshire and even to Girl Guides groups in Dorchester!
The fossils also made it to a big public event run by ArtsLink at Sherborne House. Emma from Artslink said “the kids loved the fossils! At one point they were swarming all over it with great glee and taking rubbings from them. Some said that though they knew about fossils they had never seen one close up before. I was really pleased that we inspired so many people to visit what was on their doorstep. So many of the parents had no idea that these fossils were found in Dorset!”
Anjana Khatwa, Education Co-ordinator.
