Fossils KS2

What are fossils?

Fossils are the preserved remains of plants and animals from more than 10,000 years ago. Animal and plant remains can be fossilised, including their footprints, eggs and even their poo!

How are fossils formed?

Not all living things become fossils after they die. The process of fossilisation needs specific conditions.

When an animal dies, its flesh will decompose or be eaten by other animals, leaving only the skeleton. This can eventually be covered by layers of sediment (very small pieces of rock). This causes the skeleton to compress, and it is eventually dissolved by water that passes through the layers of sediment. Minerals replace the space where the skeleton was, creating a new stony substance called a fossil.

Thousands or millions of years after it has been formed, the fossil is brought to the surface by the movement of the Earth's crust.

Paleontologists study fossils. Fossils can tell us a lot about what the world was like millions of years ago, and how animals and plants evolved.

A paleontologist studying a dinosaur fossil

When should children learn about fossils?

According to the National Curriculum Science objectives, children learn about fossils in KS2. It is assigned as compulsory learning in Year 3 under the 'Rocks' strand of learning:

• describe in simple terms how fossils are formed when things that have lived are trapped within rock

The non-statutory guidance suggests that children use a hand lens or microscope to see whether rocks have fossils in them. It also suggests that pupils might research and discuss the different kinds of living things whose fossils are found in sedimentary rock and explore how fossils are formed.

If you are looking for KS1 lessons about fossils, you might be interested in our Mary Anning KS1 Lesson Packs. Mary Anning was a fossil hunter and palaeontologist whose geological finds were among the most important of all time.