In partnership with the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History and University of Colorado Boulder Libraries, the Colorado State Library has fossil and archaeology kits for Colorado libraries to borrow! We hope these kits will allow your library to provide stimulating, Colorado-specific STEM programming for your patrons. The kits are designed for 4th graders but are easily adaptable for any age, from preschool through senior citizens. Both kits include hands-on items for your patrons to handle including real fossils and artifacts, background materials for staff, ready to go activity plans, maps, timelines, rulers, and much more to provide a rich, highly interactive learning experience.
This hands-on kit will engage patrons of all ages with real Colorado fossils that they can hold. From leaves and teeth to dinosaur bones and tracks, there are many STEM principals represented in this kit. Background materials and an extensive teacher’s guide will help you present this kit to patrons of all ages.
Fossils/fossil casts (16):
- Coprolite (fossilized feces)
- Trilobite
- Bivalve
- Dinosaur bone
- Cast of horse tooth
- Petrified wood
- Graptolite
- Fish
- Smooth Margin leaf
- Jagged Margin leaf
- Fern
- Shark tooth
- Unaltered bone (non-fossil)
- Unaltered shell (non-fossil)
- Cast of bear tooth
- Cast of Spinosaurus tooth
Fossil tracks/trackways (4):
- Cast of Theropod track
- Cast of Synapsid track
- Drawing of Synapsid trackway
- Drawing of Theropod trackway
3D printed items:
- Fox skull
- Shark tooth
1 Fossils in the Classroom Teacher Guide with CDROM
1 Places to See Fossils in Colorado poster
1 set of geologic timelines (overview, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic)
1 set of fossil labels (18)
1 set of fossil leaf cards (24)
10 hand lenses
10 rulers