Archaeology Ideas for Kids

My students are so fascinated with life in the past.  As a result, I have been working on a new unit so that we can compare life in the past to today.  We are going to begin with Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece.  Each group of kids is creating clay artifacts.  Once they are fully finished hardening, I am going to place them in my wooden container (that will be lined with plastic).  The entire container will be filled with salt.  As the students dig them out, we will think about the clues that archaeologists use to discover what life was like in the past.  In between my other posts, I will share pics of this unit.

Each student will get a burlap bag.  They will keep artifacts and notes in their sack.  At the end of the unit, they will take the sack home. 

This is the unfolded version of the sack.  Burlap material was used.  Roughly 4-5 sacks can be made from a half yard of burlap.

Ideas for an Archaeological Dig
1.  Bury an apple or orange in September outside.  Come back in May to check the rate of decomposition.  (Kids really love this)
2.  Bury bleached chicken bones in an indoor dig site and have students reassemble the bones.
3.  Summarize what has been learned or read about.
4.  Read myths or folktales.  Have students create their own folktales that revolve around one of the major themes from the folktales that have been read.