Watch the craft video below and make some sustainable winter decorations, inspired by the fossils collections at the Dead Zoo! 

At the Museum there are thousands of fossils, the remains of animals and plants that lived long ago. Can you see the mosasaurus teeth and jaw bone in the picture above? It's in-between the two spiral ammonite shell fossils. These fossils were once marine animals that lived in the sea millions of years ago before they went extinct!

Watch the Rockin' Reindeer Fossil craft video below to learn how to make home-made fossils by creating sustainable clay using simple ingredients found in your kitchen. This video was developed with our friend and Artist, Jo May, from ReCreate Ireland in 2022. 
 

If you 'd like to learn more about extinction and meet extinct animals from the Museum collections, please visit our online resource page Learn about: Extinction 

Here's some we made earlier ...

Check out our festive fossil decorations below! We had lots of fun making the squishy sustainable clay and finding treasures to help us make fossil-inspired imprints. Leaves, shells, and pin brooches are just some of the things we found at home and used to make an imprint in the clay. We painted the decorations and added some festive ribbon to finish. What treasures can you find at home to make your festive fossil decorations? 
 

Image 1: Fossil-inspired winter decorations; imprints of a hare, bird and holly leaf. 

Image 2: A shell winter decoration. 

Image 3: Some shells and pin brooches used to make fossil imprints in the clay.

If you have any questions or would like to send us images of your festive fossil decorations please email: educationnh@museum.ie