August 2007
Going Places: Kids Dig New Fossil Workshop
The focused group of 7-year-old boys laboring over their fossils at a work station proves that Dig It! The Fossil Workshop has what it takes to engage kids’ attention. These boys appeared determined to become amateur paleontologists…or maybe they just liked using the dremels (vibrating, drill-like tools).
The interactive learning center opened in the Everett Mall this summer, offering children an opportunity to learn about and dig for authentic fossils from Brazil, China, Europe, Madagascar, Morocco and the United States. For a fee, kids get to keep their discoveries, which are 5- to 600- million years old.
Kids dig in three quarries – Excavation Station, with land fossils; Shark Bite Bay, with sea fossils; and Prospector’s Pit, with rocks and minerals. The fossils are restocked often and are easy to find. There is a station to prepare your specimens with bona fide paleontologist’s tools and a place to pan for fool’s gold. Most children spend an hour to an hour and a half in the quarries and prep stations.
Dig It! staff members are standing by to help and to educate. The activities are open to all ages, but most of the “fossil talk” was lost on my 3-year-old son. And the majority of the fossils are in fragments, which made them difficult for him to discern. He preferred digging in the sand and cracking open our geode with a hammer. I noticed this was also a favorite activity for children at a birthday party.
A gift shop threads through the space, offering pretty much everything dinosaur related. It’s like getting off a ride at Disneyland – the toys do tempt, but because of the dinosaur paraphernalia already in our home, we skipped the shop. The geode and shark-tooth necklace, which we made with beads and twine provided by Dig It!, sufficed.
Dino Towne Play Land, outside the Dig It! entrance in the mall, offers a play area to round out the experience. Kids can venture through a cave displaying intact fossils under glass or climb on soft, dinosaur-themed toys. This space is free and open to the public.
Although there are two smaller Dig It! locations in Utah, the Everett facility is the flagship learning center and model for future franchises. Dig It! was launched in 2002 by Jackie Drecksel, a mom with fond memories of digging fossils with her father.
Dig It! offers birthday party packages and summer camps for kids ages 4 to 12. An educational program called Learn It! Play It! Dig It! is available for schools, groups and scout troops aiming to earn their archeology or geology merit badges.
Taryn Zier is a Seattle-area freelance writer and mother of two.
IF YOU GO
Location: The Everett Mall, 1402
S.E. Everett Mall Way.
Hours: Monday - Saturday, 10 a.m. - 9 p.m.; Sunday, 11
a.m. - 6 p.m.
Price: Free admission to Dino Towne Playland; $8.99 for
one specimen from the quarries; up to $34.99 for six.
Contact: 425-423-8506; www.digitfossils.com.
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