What's the best place to look for dinosaur fossils?

What's the best place to look for dinosaur fossils?

Lesson narration:
Scroll for prep
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Slide Image
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Slide Image
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Slide Image
This belongs to an extinct animal—but what is it? You might have seen this shape before.
5
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Slide Image
It’s a fossil shark tooth! Here’s how big its whole mouth was. This extinct shark is called a megalodon, which means “large tooth”!
5
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Slide Image
Here’s how big a megalodon would have been compared to a great white shark! Megalodons ate whales and other sharks too!
5
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
A farming family in Michigan, USA, found something strange in their yard—a huge fossil! What kind of animal is this fossil from?
4
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
It’s the skull of a mammoth! That’s the ancestor of an elephant! Ancient people lived when mammoths were alive!
4
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Here’s part of a fossil of another giant creature. Can you tell what kind of creature it is? Hint: Do you see wings?
3
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
It’s a giant dragonfly! Before dinosaurs roamed the Earth, there were giant insects. Check out the size of these models!
3
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
This fossil animal is the size of a small car. It has a round, hard back...does it look like any living animals to you?
2
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Slide Image
Hint: It’s related to one of these three animals. Which one do you think it’s related to and why?
2
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
It’s related to armadillos! It’s called a glyptodont—here’s another fossil of one. It was huge, and had a spiky tail it used for fighting!
2
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
This is a sloth from South America. What do you think a sloth that lived a long time ago (a sloth’s ancestor) might look like?
1
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Today, sloths climb trees and don't usually stand up (they crawl). But their ancestors were as big as elephants and stood tall!
1
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Slide Image
Full Screen
Controls Icon Exit Full Screen
Lesson narration:

Overview

In this mini-lesson, students discover the best places to look for dinosaur fossil--and how close to home that may be!

Exploration

5 mins

Extend this lesson

Download this Lesson to your device so you can play it offline: