Appropriate grades or age groups:
K-5

Estimated time to complete project or implement technique:
A few days

Materials needed (if applicable):
leaves
petroleum jelly
plaster of Paris
water
small disposable dish

Project instructions or description of technique:
1) Press your leaves between sheets of paper in a book when you return from your hike.

2) Do research on your collection of leaves, discover how far back leaves can be dated.

3) This will lead to a discussion of leaves being as old as the dinosaur (some ate them -- this is recorded in fossil form)!

4) To further your discussion of fossils, you can do this simple project (see steps 5-9) and fossilize your new leaves.

5) Choose your leaf and coat it with petroleum jelly.

6) Mix plaster of Paris and some water in a dish.

7) Let mixture sit for a few minutes without stirring.

8) Press leaf into the plaster.

9) Let sit for one day.

10) Remove the leaf when plaster is completely dry. The fossil is what is left behind!