Fun flour fossils
Prep 10M | Bake 20M | Enjoy in 1Hr
Take your kids on an expedition in your own backyard with these easy to make dinosaur fossils. Alberta is home to some of the world’s best dinosaur fossils, and there are several dinosaurs named after our province, including the Albertosaurus and the Edmontosaurus. (We bet you can guess where these creatures lived!)
Using just flour, coffee grounds, salt and sand you can create realistic fossils for your kids to discover, or add glitter and food colouring to make these treasures bright and fun. Share your creations and fossil names with us using #LifesSimpleIngredient on your social channels!
Ingredients:
1/2 cup flour
1 cup used coffee grounds
1/2 cup salt
1/4 cup sand
1 cup water
Small objects to use as artifacts (coins, seashells, toy dinosaurs, etc.)
Food colouring (optional)
Glitter (optional)
Directions:
- Mix the flour, coffee grounds, salt, sand, and water together. Form the mixture into round, flat balls. Decorate the balls with food colouring or glitter. (optional)
- For fossil option one, press the small objects firmly into each dough ball then carefully remove them to reveal impressions of the objects. Place the balls on a lined cookie sheet bake for 20 minutes at 150°F. Allow to cool until hardened. Then hide the fossils for your kids to find!
- For fossil option two, place the artifacts in the middle of the dough ball and cover with dough so the artifact is hidden. Place the balls on a lined cookie sheet bake for 20 minutes at 150°F. Allow to cool until hardened. Under adult supervision, use a small hammer to break open the fossils and discover the artifact inside!
This didn’t work at all! The photo is obviously not the same recipe, since the photo is completely white and the recipe calls for sand and coffee grounds!
Hi Julia. We’re sorrry that this didn’t work out for you. This craft involves making a basic salt dough (like in the picture) and adding coffee and sand to give a more textured fossil-like appearance. You may have better results with this salt dough recipe: https://www.lifessimpleingredient.com/festive-salt-dough-ornaments/