Materials (Makes 10 Valentines):
1 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of salt
1/2 cup of warm water
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 Tablespoon ground Turmeric
Wooden skewer
Brown yarn
Wooden beads
"I Dig You" Template and Printer
A set of Cambrian Organisms (I used this Safari LTD Life Toob) or sea shells
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a bowl, mix 1 cup of all-purpose flour with 1/2 cup of salt and 1/2 cup of warm water (the ratio is 2:1:1). Add 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon and 1 tablespoon of ground turmeric (this will give your hearts the color of sand).
Knead until a smooth dough forms.
Using a rolling pin, roll out your salt dough until it is approximately 1/8th of an inch thick.
Use a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut out hearts.
Use the stump end of a wooden skewer to puncture holes into the tops of each Valentine.
Then, use a set of fossils or sea shells to create impressions of each type of organism.
Place your "fossils" on a baking sheet (I lined my baking sheet with baking paper)
Bake for 2 hours.
Once baked, let your "fossils" cool for 15 minutes.
Add a piece of brown yarn to create a necklace for each child. I also added wooden beads for some extra dimension.
Print out the 'I Dig You' Templates at 100% and attach to each necklace. If you have issues downloading the JPG, please feel free to use the chat box below and I will happily send you a PDF version of the document!
Background Information on the fossils I used:
The Burgess Shale is a world famous fossil deposit in the Canadian Rockies. By revealing a diverse collection of early marine fossils, the Burgess Shale provides a record of life during the Cambrian period (~500 million years ago). During this time period, life existed only in the world's oceans and consisted of primitive arthropods such as trilobites that were scavenging the seafloor in search of food particles. Fossils preserved in the Burgess Shale commonly exhibit hard parts (such as shells or scales) as well as soft tissue (such as eggs or even nervous systems) and provide scientists with critical information regarding early life. This memory game offers a great way to introduce your child to the fossil record as well as the relationship between an organism's structures (e.g. shell) and their function(s) (e.g. protection from predators).
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