My little guy (6 1/2) is fascinated with fossils and dinosaurs. lol I think one of his first phrases was "Triassic-Jurassic extinction event"....ok, I kid

I want to take him fossil hunting locally (Southern Ontario) so he can find his own fossil. He already collects rocks pretending that they are fossils so what I would like to know is does anybody have any suggestions on how we can start, what we can look for?

I think the best advice I could give would be to try and contact a local fossil or mineral club, I'm sure they would be more than happy to give some advice on were and what to look for.

I googled a couple of links that may help:

http://www.element51.com/lgms.htm

http://www.ontariominerals.com/

Sweet! I just had a peek and http://www.ontariominerals.com/ seems especially promising.

As a general rule of thumb, you should look for places where the subsurface layers are exposed like quarries, riverbanks, road/railroad cuttings, etc. But it really depends on your local geology and the type of fossils you are looking for, incidently kids have pretty keen eyesight and it's etirely possible that some of those "rocks" he's already picked up are in fact fossils. Have a really close look at them before you pass them over, I've been caught once or twice. hehe

lol...I will but thats a lot of rocks.

Incidently we are in the Greater Toronto Area and all the rocks are from either local parks, beaches or ravines.



(Psst...we want a trillobyte)

Back when I was around that age I was big into dinos/fossils too. I once had really good luck on a hill covered with fallen shale and sandstone, managed to find a fossilized fern leaf as well as a small trilobite. I'd look for a situation like that, if possible. It's tedious searching, but it's probably the easiest way for an amatuer collector.

Also bear in mind that Canada has some weird laws about fossils...keeping a small one for yourself is okay and will probably go unnoticed, but anything big, should you find it, has to be reported I believe.

It all depends on what it is and where it is. It is definitely against the law ( at least in Alberta ) to "dig" for fossils. You can pick them up off the surface of the ground, but if you require a tool to pry or dig them out that requires a permit which don't normally get issued to private collectors.

Transporting of fossils from province to province is strictly regulated as is "ownership" and the selling of fossils. Definitely check your provincial regulations if you get into serious collecting.

Though honestly, if all else fails, trillobyte are easy and cheap to buy at the right places... If you can't go find one without breaking any laws.. You can always maybe buy one secretly and when you guys go fossil ground hunting.. place it on the ground when he's not looking and then try to get him to discover it.

Yes, it can be seen as dishonest to your kid.. however, if it'll keep you out of trouble with the law, and you get to see the excitment on his face when he.. finds.. a fossle like that.. it's worth it. *chuckles*

or you could take i nice family vacation to the dinosaur national monumaennt in colorado, or the bad lands, i think they take you on fossil hunts.

Thanks for all the great ideas. lol @ SC

Theres a few spots locally that I have in mind however I will have to wait till the white stuff disappears

Shaftsbury you said ...


Can I ask what kind of fossils you've found?

Well I've been picking up stuff off the ground for over forty years now so I can say that I have found a good range of fossils .

Everything from fossil wood, leaves, small marine creatures (Crinoid sections) up to an almost complete juvenile Hadrosaur that the museum in Drumheller excavated a few years ago. About the only type I haven't found are Trilobites and such because I do most of my prospecting away from the mountains where they are found.

An inside joke in my family.....once when a relative was helping me pack during a move, he picked up a rather heavy box from the floor and remarked..."what have you got in here rocks?" I just smiled and said "yup". Funny he never offered to help me move again


Here's a couple of photo's of some fossils I collected that are now in the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alberta.


Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment

The first photo is of some long bones from I believe the foot of a small meat eater. They were generally classified as belonging to a "Saurornithoidid".

The second photo is of some foot bones of a large meat eater, probably an Albertosaurus.

Wow! that is pretty cool. Do you do this as a hobby or professionally?

I good place i know, though it is rather far, is a place called Lyme Regis on the South coast of England. I went there and found loads of fossils, big and small. I think you can pretty much take what you want, we did. I know its far but i just wanted to tell you about it.

I will get some pics, I also got some finds of fossils.
Yes sandstone is/can be rewarding even in sweden, as it once was in water. It builds up 'layers', often such minerals/stones that are made of layers can be rewarding.
And Clubs are great ways to learn something.
as someone said quarries/mines are good places to look for, I often go to the beach where I know there is sandstone then I let the hammer and/or chisel talk..
Oh, local people maybe helpful, as they often know the area better then you.
BUT BRING A HAMMER AND CHISEL, if you go to an old mine/quarry might still be something 'fun' there.
Now I'll go and colletc some pics..

Just one of my many hobbies, unfortunately (or fortunately if you ask my wife) I don't have as much time as I used to for it.

Here are some of my collection.

Great pictures! Would you mind giving a brief description just so we know what we're looking at?

things that don't look like they belong there, unusual roundness, but i wouldn't know. i have always wanted to got, but never have, i have found them though in the sandstone outcroppings and such, theres alot of it in this part if wisconsin, but it only contains small snails and such things of that nature

Sure:
Picture nr 1 is Worm borrows I think, I am not completly sure about that one yet..
nr 2 is an opalized Ammonite
nr 3 is an belemite in sandstone
nr 4 is also an belemite
nr 5 is part of a bone
nr 6 is Bones+ a mussel (and a flshlight )

#'s 3/4 look the same

Oh, I got the wrong pic on #4..
Here you go, thats also a Belemite.

okay. thats made my life complete

I'm not so sure those are bones on #6, those look very similar to burrow casts.

yeah, tahts possible, but then agian, your more expirienced then i, so...

Have you ever taken him to Dinosaur National Monument in Alberta? I am sure he would love it!

pssst.............I think you mean Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta, I wish Dinosaur Monument was in Alberta but I think the people in Utah/Colorado might get a bit miffed about it.

Nice catch. Well, they both lay between the same meridians. I got that much right

same continent, and i think time zone too, but yeah, thats in colorado and someother stae, i already had the suggestion, same with the blackhills or badlands in one of the dakotas, i can't remember

I haven't forgotten about this thread but with snow on the ground ...you know. Ok I had a look at some of his rocks and one is definately a fossil. Not sure where he got it however it was most probably brought back by his grandparents from Eastern Canada as it looks like sea coral shaped like a mushroom cap. I will post a pic when I can

It's amazing what kids pick up, I was talking to an interpreter at Dinosaur Provincial Park a few years back and she said that most of the new finds that are made by visitors to the park are by children, simply because they have keener eyesight and are closer to the ground.

Hmmm makes sense to me, (plus the fact that they cover the hills like ants at a picnic)

This is my best fossil, an over four foot long marine crocodile skull. The whole creature may have been over 30 feet long. It was found in Morocco.

My next best is the lower jaw of a mosasaur. Also have the fossil skull of a large turtle and some spinosaur and other dino teeth. This is all Cretaeous stuff from the same trip.

I found some Jurassic dino bones in Colorado last year recently, but nothing very exciting.

Nice ! how hard is that matrix?


Hehe I made the mistake of giving my son a bone to take in for "show and tell" at school.

Now I have to give a talk at his kindergarden tommorrow and wednesday.

Should be fun.

It is some very tough stuff. Many hours ahead of slow picking away with dental picks.

ok my lovelies...I'm back! I got myself a digicam this is the "rock" from my lil guy's collection that I mentioned in an earlier post.







This last image is a fossilized shell that we found (of all places!) on the fieldstone path leading to our backyard



(eek! I need a manicure!)

The first picture looks like it bears a shell impression?, the lighter colored rock looks like a nice bit of coral


Edit: Couldn't find a real good picture but check out the image in the upper right of the following page.

http://www.oum.ox.ac.uk/thezone/fossils/inverts/coral.htm

the first 5 images are of the same rock, lol...I should have guessed coral. Knowing nothing about coral, is it fossilized coral or just ordinary old coral?

OK I can see that now, I guess the color and scale threw me off a bit I'd say definitely fossil.

If you can find a decent field guide to fossils, you might be able to identify that shell, it has a rather interesting shape to it.

I don't see that many invertebrate fossils to be able to help you out there, perhaps someone else could give it a shot.

When I get home tonight I will take a picture of the shale (I think) stone from our walk that it came out of. You can clearly see the shells imprint in it

Egypt if he wants to find a mummy

Maybe they do but these where hammed out of sandstone, so I'm not sure.

draconic chronicler: thats a nice fossil!

Daughter of the Nine Moons: I'm no fossil expert (amateur geologist lol) but I also say choral thats been exposed to erosion and a mussel (the last one)