Educator Resources: Fossil Halls

Reading What is Paleontology? Learn about fossils, extremely rare—and valuable—records of the past. Game What Do You Know about Paleontology? How much do you know about the Age of Dinosaurs? Brush the dust and other sediment off your brain, and test your paleontology knowledge... Video What is a fossil? What exactly IS a fossil? Can a fossil be a plant, or a footprint? Does a fossil have to be a dinosaur? Game Layers of Time How do your fossil-sorting skills stack up? Put them to the test with this kid-friendly online puzzle. Video How do you find dinosaur fossils? Hint: it’s not as easy as it looks in the movies. Reading Beyond T. rex Meet some of the more unusual members of T. rex and Velociraptor's family tree.

Reading Talk to a Titanosaur In this interview, meet the cast of a titanosaur, one of the largest dinosaurs ever found! Video Meet the Titanosaur One of the largest dinosaurs ever discovered is now on exhibit. Video How to Build a Titanosaur Erecting the Museum's newest extinct resident. Reading Tree of Life Explore this family tree of living things on Earth. Video Inside the Collections: Paleontology and the Big Bone Room A look at the oversize collection of dinosaur fossils. Video Where are all of the dinosaur fossils kept? Only a small percentage of the Museum's specimens are on display.

Video Shelf Life 03: Six Ways To Prepare a Coelacanth In 1938, a newly discovered coelacanth surprised scientists. The Museum stood ready to preserve a newly discovered specimen. Video Sharks: The Past Watch scientists use CT scanning to compare living and fossil sharks - an evolutionary period spanning 450 million years. Reading + Game All About Sharks Sharks have been around for 450 million years. Find out about their unique features and way of life! Video Shelf Life 02: Turtles and Taxonomy Curator Darrel Frost discusses the importance of naming and classifying objects in the Museum's collection. Video Why Isn't Pterodactyl a Dinosaur? Paleontologist Danny Barta explains what is and is not a dinosaur. Video How Were Pterosaurs Adapted for Flight? Learn more about these flapping reptiles.

Video Are dinosaurs still alive today? We’re still living in the Age of Dinosaurs! Hands-on Drawing Dinos Ever wonder how scientists can look at a bunch of bones and draw what a dinosaur looked like? Learn their five-step trick. Then,... Game + Video Living Large Sauropods dominated the Earth for 140 million years. How did they reach their massive sizes? What did they look like, how did they... Game Dress Up a T. rex What skin color, eye color, and type of feathers will you give this T. rex? Game T. rex Roar Mixer Mix the sounds of different animals to create the roar of the Tyrannosaurus rex! Game What do you know about T. rex? Take this 10-question quiz to test your knowledge of Tyrannosaurus rex, the ultimate predator! Video Ask a Scientist About T. rex Paleontologist Mark Norell answers questions about T. rex. Video What Did a Baby T. rex Look Like? Did you know T. rex hatchlings were most likely covered in fluff? Learn more about the life history of the ultimate predator. Video How long did a T. rex live? The life of the ultimate predator, from the birth to death. Video Did an asteroid kill the dinosaurs? An extinction mystery explained by paleontologist Aki Watanabe. Video Shelf Life 12: Six Extinctions In Six Minutes Six tales of extinctions from the collections. Reading Ask a Scientist About Dinosaurs Paleontologist Mark Norell answers kids’ questions.

Reading In Pictures: Extreme Mammals From the extinct Cynognathus and Repenomamus to the plant-eating dugongs and manatees, explore some of Earth's most unusual mammals. Hands-on Super Teeth What would it be like to bite like a saber-toothed cat? Explore mammals' teeth with this matching game and coloring book! Video Moving Mammals Walk, hop, gallop, swim, glide, burrow, and swing! Explore how the planet's 5,400 species of mammals move. Reading All About Horses Explore amazing facts about horse breeds. Find out about their colors, body types, and where in the world they come from. Video Searching for Bat Fossils in Colombia Big animals like dinosaurs make big fossils–but how do scientists find fossils of small animals like bats and rodents? Video SciCafe: End of the Megafauna with Ross MacPhee How do scientists explain the mass extinctions of the strange, large animals that once roamed the Earth?