Making footprints in sand for others to interpret

Our new ELI today is 'What were the animals doing? Interpreting footprints and other marks in the sand.'

Footprints and other traces of animals, found as fossils, can tell us a great deal about what the animals were doing at the time. Pupils make footprints in sand for others to interpret. This is great fun!

Related activities can be found in our Evolution of Life category - dinosaurs.

Using rock evidence to colour the geological past

"What colour was the world in the past? - using rock evidence and ‘the present is the key to the past’ to colour the geological world."

This ELI involves a discussion, using the colours of unweathered surface rocks and ‘the present is the key to the past’ to give a coloured picture of past geological worlds.

Related activities can be found in our 'Environment' category.

How did the conditions differ between today and when the rock was formed?

Our ELI today is 'Now and then – spotting the difference; how did the conditions differ between today and when the rock was formed?'

This ELI is a thought experiment, attempting to compare various aspects of the environment when the rock was formed, with conditions today.

Related activities can be found in our Environment category.

What was it like to be there when that rock was forming?

'What was it like to be there – in the rocky world? - bringing the formation of solid rock to life – by imagining yourself there when it formed'.

This activity asks pupils questions relating to all the senses to try to bring past environments of the formation of rocks to life.

Related Earthlearningideas can be found in our Rocks section of the Earth Materials category.

How to work out the lifestyles of extinct animals

Our ELI today is 'Curious creatures; using fossil and modern evidence to work out the lifestyles of extinct animals'.

This activity provides a snapshot of the history of life on Earth.

Related activities can be found in our 'Evolution of Life' category - fossils (mostly invertebrates)

How did ammonites try to escape their predators?

And now for something completely different . . . 'The ups and downs of ammonites; how did ammonites adjust their position in the sea'.

This activity demonstrates how some animals which are buoyant in water can change their depth in the sea.

Related activities about fossils can be found in our Evolution of Life category - Fossils (mostly invertebrates).

Identifying rocks

This is the second ELI about identifying rocks in an outdoor collection - 'A forgotten rock garden - 2; help a geologist identify a treasured outdoor collection'.

This activity involves matching a set of photographs to their descriptions and locating them on an overall scene. It could form a useful revision activity, once pupils have acquired experience of a range of rocks. The answers are provided in the text.

Related activities can be found in 'Rocks' in our Earth Materials category.