Fossils for Kids

Welcome to the new Fossils for Kids pages of the Virtual Fossil Museum - by John OBrien

Introduction by the webmaster: It is too bad that in the U.S. the citizens are becoming increasingly scientifically challenged. While we still reign in technology, and have the finest universities in the world, we are steadily falling behind in education, generally, and in scientific and mathematical education, in particular. The U.S. now imports most of its scientists. The last decade has also seen political hostility to science. Teachers often operate in budgetary austerity, sometimes needing to shell out from their own pockets for education materials.

In this environment, a person such as John Obrien is truly refreshing. He has been providing school kids, scouts, and pediatric hospital patients throughout Central California with free fun and educational fossil programs for the past five years. The program, known as Fossils for Kids is an interactive and enjoyable approach to teach the children the basics of Paleontology and the fun and exciting hobby of fossil collecting. Each child also "finds" several fossils during an activity at the end of the program. This has been such a successful endeavor that it has spawned an extremely entertaining website also known as www.fossilsforkids.com.

We are excited that John has joined the Virtual Fossil Museum (VFM), to lead new site development aimed directly at the kids and teachers out there. We plan to provide an array of off-the-shelf, printable and online resources for use in the classroom. Please come back frequently and watch us grow. Also, e-mail your ideas for this development directly to John. Better yet, let John know you want to join the VFM's efforts. Finally, we are soliciting donation of fossils that can be used directly by John in his fossils for kids program.