Most children's books about fossils are written by non-scientists, concentrate only on dinosaurs, and frequently contain errors, I've found in the years since I first started buying them for my daughter Allison. They also can be quite expensive. I put together this little booklet to go with talks about fossils that I give to schools. I have used it with children from age 4 to 8 with good results. I send a copy home with each of the children so that they can remember a little bit about what I've said. It is a basic introduction to paleontology for kids who really know nothing about it yet; so if you have a real paleophile at home, you probably will find that she is already beyond this level. You may view and print a copy for your own use entirely free. If you are a teacher, or someone who also gives talks to groups, you may reproduce the booklet and distribute it freely so long as it is not sold for profit.

Instructions for assembling booklet:

Print cover sheet and sheets 1-4. If you don't want a lot of blank pages, copy sheet 1 onto the back of sheet 2, and sheet 3 onto the back of sheet 4. Cut all sheets in half (into 8-1/2 x 5-1/2" pieces) and assemble them according to the page numbers. Fold in half and staple, and you're done!

I have also written another little book for older elementary school children, which you may download here. It is a pdf file and requires Adobe Acrobat reader to open, available for free from Adobe if you don't already have it.

return to home page