Make your own

Falls of the Ohio Discovery Pack

Kids! Are you going to be visiting the Falls of the Ohio with your family?

Stuff a back pack with these items to better explore the park’s fossil beds:

__ Spray water bottle (to see the fossils better)

__ Scrub brush (to clean the clay off the lower fossil beds so you can see everything better)

__ Magnifying glass (to examine the fossils more closely)

__ Drinking water – it can get really hot on the fossil beds in the summer!

__ Fossil identification sheets: Discovery Fossils  or Fossil ID Pages

      (You can bring fossil books / guides, but these are easier to use on the fossil beds and you can   

       print these out at home.)

__ Camera (remember, not all cameras can focus really close-up)

__ Ruler or a coin for scale (so you can tell whether it is a big or small fossil)

__ Playdough™ if you want to make casts and molds of small fossils that you can take home.

__ Binoculars (if you want to look at the amazing birds on the outer fossil beds)

__ Notebook and pencil (if you want to record your observations, make rubbings or sketches)

__ Sun screen and sun glasses (there are no trees on the lower fossil beds)

Other tidbits of useful information

__ Leave your collecting gear in the car! (You can only use it at the state park in the fossil & mineral piles by the parking lot.)

__ Wear shoes that enclose your toes! (Sandals or any open-foot shoe is not safe on the fossil beds. You can get rocks between your toes or they can break if you trip.)

Created September 7, 2010