Digging and Discovery Worksheets

INTRODUCTION – Click to read the introductory document.

SCIENCE
1A: Introduction to Fossils
Learn about fossils through Mary Anning’s world. How they were formed and the creatures they once were.
Suggestion: Follow with 2A
Age Group: Year 3

1B: Fossil Finding Mission
What creatures lived in Lyme Bay? Plan a fossil trip with a friend.
Age Group: Year 3

1C: How Sedimentary Rocks are Formed
A short hands on exercise using play dough to show rock formation.
Age Group: Year 3

1D: Mapping Rocks
Learn about a pioneer cartographer William ‘Strata’ Smith.
Suggestion: Follow with 4D
Age Group: Year 3

1E: Understanding Deep Time, Climate and Evolution
Create a time line out of loo roll. Research and add plants and animals.
Age Group: Year 5/6

1F: Exploring Local Rock
Collecting outdoors at weekends, then scientific research in class.
Age Group: Year 3

1G: Wunderkammer
Create a Cabinet of Curiosities. An ongoing child-led activity.
Age Group: All Ages

1H: Crystal Palace Dinosaurs and Material Science
Discover the dinosaur sculptures in Crystal Palace Park, and learn about the challenges they face.
Age Group: 4/5/6

HISTORY
2A: Snakestones and Devils’ Fingers
How were fossils understood before the days of science?
Suggestion: Do 1A first
Age Group: Years 3/4

2B: Digging and Discovery
Understanding Victorian class and society.
Suggestion: Follow with 2C
Age Group: Year 6

2C: Digging and Discovery
The Impact of Fossils on Society.
Teachers Background Reading: Victorian Britain (1837 – 1850) Industrialisation, Geology and the Impact of New Ideas.
Class Role Play.
Age Group: Year 6

2D: The Age of the World – Thinkers and Theories
Over the last 500 years, how old did people think the world was?
Age Group: Year 6

ENGLISH
3A: Nature and Poetry
Writing poetry about nature to music.
Age Group: Year 6

3B: The Dinner in the Iguanodon
Writing for journalism.
Suggestion: Follow with 3C
Age Group: Year 6

3C: A Fantasy Feast inside a Dinosaur
Plan a fabulous feast in a fantasy setting.
Suggestion: Do activity 3B first
Age Group: Year 6

3D: Underground to Wonderland
Imaginative story writing about lost worlds underground.
Age Group: Year 6

ART
4A: Turner and Nature – Painting to Music
LA look at Turner’s storm paintings, and painting to music.
Age Group: Years 4/5/6

4B: How do Scientists and Artists Interpret Fossils?
Understanding how scientists and artists work together to understand the world. Making shadow puppets.
Age Group: Years 5/6

4C: Mice to Monsters
Introduction to food chains and evolution. A drawing activity.
Suggestion: Do 1E first
Age Group: Years 4/5

4D: Understanding our Landscape
Using colour to map strata on geological maps.
Age Group: Year 6

4E: Making chalk paint – KS1 / 2
FUN, TEAMWORK, MESS, HANDS ON WITH NATURE.
Age Group: All ages