Paleo-crafting!

Last week I came across an awesome idea on the Kids Craft Weekly blog. We were going to make FOSSILS! We had some air dry clay on hand that would be just perfect, and TONS of shells, too!

So I gathered the supplies, and the kidlets, and we got our hands dirty!

We squished and smooshed and rolled out the clay...

The boys both loved using the rolling pins!

B didn't want to stop rolling...we had to squish and reroll his a few times, LOL!

Then we dug through my shell collection, and found ones with interesting patterns, using them to press into the slabs of clay. Using a straw, I cut holes near the 'top' of each piece, so that when they are finished, we can hang them up. :)

We are still waiting for them to be completely dry. We have had a really wet week here, so they are just starting to get to bone dry in places. They are no longer smooshable, though. Another day or two of non-rainy weather should see them ready for the next step. :)

I will update this post when we move on to the next part!

A little tardy...but the final pieces turned out so neat!

We painted the dried clay with water based paint, and dabbed it off with paper towels, repeating until the shell impressions were well defined. once the paint was dry I coated them in a light coat of clear matte spray paint. They are now hung on the wall outside my boys room :D