This project may look like a bunch of dinosaur bones, but if you think beyond dinos and think about princess jewels, foreign coins, or plastic puzzle pieces, imagine where this project could take you.
There are so many variations that you can come up with with this fossil project, that I’m urging you to discover that kid in you, pull out the supplies and get to work. The inspiration came from the dinosaur bones excavation kit, Kidz lab Triceratops Dig a Dino 
We reversed the kit — using the bones in the kit to make a fossil, rather than using the stone to hide the bones… but, as you’ll see you can easily reverse this. The project instructions are based on my keepsake handprint/footprint craft, which is on my family wall.
The recipe follows the handprint craft supply list:
- Play dough
- Plaster Of Paris (Dry, not mixed)
- Water
- Stirring stick
- Murphy’s Oil Soap
- Shallow cardboard box — or cookie sheet — large enough to hold your mold
- Drywall screws to use for hanging
- Ribbon or Wire to hang
- Begin with a batch of playdough, and push bones (or jewels, etc.) into playdough to make the indentation.
- Remove bones.
- Brush freshly imprinted playdough with Murphy’s Oil Soap to keep Plaster of Paris from sticking.
- Mix Plaster of Paris and quickly pour into playdough mold.
- Wait a few minutes to an hour until Plaster of Paris hardens completely.
- Excavate your treasure by peeling the playdough off the Plaster of Paris to reveal your fossil treasure.
Start over again the make something entirely different.
This is SO cool. I wish someone had done this with me when I was a kid……