What Is a Fossil? Free Mary Anning Worksheet (KS2)

What is a fossil, and how does one form?

A fossil is the preserved remains or trace of a living thing from long ago. Most fossils form in a slow, step-by-step process. When an animal such as an ammonite died, its body sank to the seabed and the soft parts rotted away, leaving the hard shell or bones behind. Layers of mud and sand then settled on top, building up over millions of years and squashing down into rock. Minerals seeped into the buried shell and gradually turned it to stone. Much later, movement of the Earth and the wearing away of cliffs by wind, rain and waves can bring these fossils back to the surface, where they may be found. Explaining the process as an ordered sequence helps children grasp that fossils are evidence of life from deep in the past, not objects that appeared all at once.

Who was Mary Anning?

Mary Anning (1799 to 1847) lived in Lyme Regis on the Dorset coast, part of what is now known as the Jurassic Coast. From childhood she searched the crumbling cliffs for fossils, often in dangerous conditions, and sold her finds to support her family. She and her brother uncovered the first correctly identified ichthyosaur skeleton when she was still a girl, and she went on to find the first complete plesiosaur and an important pterosaur. Her careful observations helped scientists of the time begin to understand that creatures very different from those alive today had once existed. Because she was a working-class woman, Mary was rarely given proper credit during her lifetime, which makes her a good starting point for discussing fairness and recognition as well as discovery. One common mix-up: ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs were sea reptiles, not dinosaurs, even though they lived at the same time as the dinosaurs.

Linking science and history in the classroom

This worksheet sits at the meeting point of two curriculum areas. The Year 3 science objective asks children to describe in simple terms how fossils form when living things are trapped in rock, while the KS1 history curriculum asks children to learn about the lives of significant individuals who contributed to national and international achievements, and Mary Anning is a common choice. Using Mary Anning as the bridge lets children see that scientific knowledge is built up by real people over time. It is also a good opportunity to introduce simple chronology: the difference between the deep time in which fossils formed and the much more recent past in which Mary lived and worked.

How to get the most from the sheet

Read the four fossil-formation stages together before children number them, and encourage them to explain their reasoning rather than guessing. A useful clue is that the shell has to be buried before it can turn to stone, and the rock has to wear away before anyone can find it. The colouring task can be as relaxed or as accurate as you like; you might invite children to use earthy browns and greys for the rock and brighter tones for the shell. To extend the activity, ask children to write a sentence describing one thing Mary Anning discovered, or to find Lyme Regis on a map of the United Kingdom. A short discussion about why some people are remembered and others forgotten can deepen the historical thinking.

Frequently asked questions