This fun activity from our dinosaur study actually originated by mistake!  I was trying to make fossil impressions using our dinosaur fossil figures to match with each figure once they had dried [which I ended up doing later HERE], but most of my first impressions didn’t make it.  I ended up with just three that didn’t break, so I knew I had to repurpose them somehow.

[I made the fossil impressions using this plaster — I poured a small amount into shallow trays, then put one fossil figure into each.]

I took the three surviving plaster fossil molds and put them on a tray with some play-doh.

Then I showed the girls how to take a large chunk of the play-doh and press it down over the fossil mold…

…and then gently peel it back up to reveal the impression!  The girls love doing this over and over again, and they really don’t mind that only three of the dinosaur fossils stayed intact.