We had a blast in Dinosaur camp this week. We made plaster casts of Velociraptor claws, broke them, painted them and then buried them in a mixture of sand and plaster. After the mixture hardened, we dug them back up and put them back together. Before we started digging, we practiced with cookies.

For this experiment you will need:

• cookies with chocolate chips, nuts or some other ingredient that we can dig out.
• toothpicks
• paper towels

First, we will practice digging. This technique is useful in paleontology and in archaeology. Place a clean paper towel on the table. Get two cookies.

Eat one. Place the other on the paper towel. The object is to carefully dig the chocolate chips out of the cookie. You want to get the chips out whole, without breaking them. This can be quite a challenge, but it is very good practice if you think you would like digging up fossils or archaeological remains. When you get all of the chips out, then you get the reward of eating them.

Often when you dig up a specimen or an artifact, it will be broken into several pieces. It can be quite a difficult putting the pieces back together, even if you know what the original object looked like. Take one of the cookies and break it into 4 pieces. Mix the pieces up and then put the cookie back together. Once you have done that, try breaking a cookie into 8 pieces.

Then, if you are really feeling brave, try 12 pieces.

To make things even more realistic, break a cookie into 12 pieces. Mix the pieces up and then eat 3 of them. Now try to put the pieces you have left back into place.

Another factor common to paleontology and archaeology is that often the pieces of several objects get mixed. Take 3 cookies and break each into 4 pieces.  Now, mix all the pieces and try to sort them out. As you will see, this can be quite a challenge.

If these activities appeal to you, think about becoming a paleontologist or an archaeologist. Just remember that if you dig up a dinosaur bone, you should not eat the pieces when you are done.

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