Dinodig sand pit and Amber excavating

[Adminopteryx]

Here's a fairly simple idea I'm excited about! As well as a digging pit for kids to find their own dinosaur fossils and skeletons, why not a little miners corner containing many chunks of artificial amber with insects! The kids could be equipped with a torch and trowel and released into the 'child friendly' mini cave to discover a variety of amber pieces. Then the find could be brought out onto a little lab table with magnifying tools to see the specimens up close. The pieces of course would have to be left on site for other kids enjoyment, as they'd be too time-consuming to make again and again. Having said that, if the cave attraction were to charge an entrance fee, this would pay for the amber found and kids could take their finds home with them.

[jeffosaur]

No need to make them. As I said on a different thread, you can just buy really cheap stuff for them to dig out, then they can take these home with them. This would make for more fun knowing there's a reward at the end of it!

[Adminopteryx]

Yeah, I guess I could do small cheap pieces as they'd be real at least and can be taken home as you say. Not sure how I'm going to do the mine walls so they can be extracted safely? If it was crumbly sediments, it might be dangerous or just messy to deal with, and then I'd have to find a way to insert the new amber pieces for the next find.

One thing for sure, I will create lighting on the ceilings as in real mines (crude dim bulbs) to add to the atmosphere and so the kids can still see what they're doing of course. I'm still trying to think of a way the amber can be covered on the walls that will flake off fairly easily?

[jeffosaur]

Maybe you could use wet clay to cover the fossil amber, then wait for it to dry out. This is cheap and reusable and will crumble quite easy when hit with a small mallet.