Junior Paleontologist Educational Kits

The Florida Paleontological Society (FPS) and the Florida Geological Foundation (FGF) joined forces early on promoting and celebrating National Fossil Day (NFD) at the Florida Museum of Natural History and promoting NFD throughout the year at exhibit openings and public outreach events. In 2012 both groups began to plan for the “Fossils at the Fort” celebration at the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument in St. Augustine, the first NFD event to be held at a Florida National Park Service location. To prepare for the activities, FPS and FGF partnered with the Florida Fossil Hunters (FFH) to assemble two Junior Paleontologist Educational Kits to be used with the Junior Paleontologist Ranger Program. The kits included fossils, replicas, books, and activities to augment the program and to enrich the experience of the Junior Rangers. To learn more about the Junior Paleontologist Ranger Program, please visit the National Park Service website.

After the success of the “Fossils at the Fort” event, the two kits were donated to the NPS Washington Bureau, where the kits have been used by elementary and middle school classrooms in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington, D. C. This inspired the Florida Paleontological Society, the Florida Geological Foundation and the Florida Fossil Hunters to set a goal to distribute one kit to all of the National Park units within the state of Florida. We are proud to announce that we have achieved this goal in 2015 and are now expanding to other National Park Units across the country! 18 Jr. Kits are now in use with more kits in the pipeline for further expansion. With the 2016 celebration of the National Park Service’s centennial and the White House initiative of “Every Kid In A Park” now is great time to consider donating specimens to this incredible program. As of 2017 the number of children interacting with the Jr. kits now exceeds 10,000 annually, thanks to the contributions from our partners and members of the public like you! Please check out the Junior Kits below to get an idea of the types of specimens that we can use your help in creating these awesome educational kits.

Download a pdf with a list of items we need for these educational kits. Please consider donating to this great project today!

Junior Paleontologist Educational Kits completed to date

(Click on images to view larger versions of the kit. Images are very large, so please be patient while they download.)

2022 Junior Paleontologists Educational Kit

Yellowstone kit
    

Yellowstone National Park (Montana)

2020 / 2021 Junior Paleontologists Educational Kit


    

Theodore Roosevelt National Park (North Dakota)

2018 / 2019 Junior Paleontologists Educational Kits

    

Denali National Park & Preserve (Alaska)

    

Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico & Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas (Shared Resource)

2017 Junior Paleontologist Educational Kits

    

Grand Canyon National Park (Arizona)

    

Buffalo National River (Arkansas)

    

Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (NJ & PA)

2016 Junior Paleontologist Educational Kits

13-junior-kit-tule-springs-nm-2016-hres    

Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument
(Las Vegas, NV)

14-junior-kit-waco-mammoth-nm-2016-hres    

Waco Mammoth National Monument
(Waco, TX)

15-junior-kit-channel-islands-2016-hres    

Channel Islands National Park
(Ventura, CA)

2015 Junior Paleontologist Educational Kits

#11 Gulf Island NS 2015 JR - Kit - Jpeg - Level 8 Compression    

Gulf Islands National Seashore
(Gulf Breeze, FL and Ocean Springs, MS)

#9 Everglades NP 2015 JR - Kit - Jpeg - Level 8 Compression    

Everglades National Park
(Miami, Naples, and Homestead, FL)

#10 Dry Tortugas NP 2015 JR - Kit - Jpeg - Level 8 Compression    

Dry Tortugas National Park
(Key West, FL)

#12 Denver Area 2015 JR - Kit - Jpeg - Level 8 Compression    

Denver Area NPS-Geological Resources Division
(Colorado)

2014 Junior Paleontologist Educational Kits

#6 De Soto 2014 JR - kit    

De Soto National Memorial
(Bradenton, FL)

#7 Biscayne 2014 JR - Kit    

Biscayne National Park
(Miami, Key Biscayne &
Homestead, FL)

#8 Big Cypress 2014 JR - Kit    

Big Cypress National Preserve
(Ochopee, FL)

2013 Junior Paleontologist Educational Kits

#4 2013 HR Junior Paleonotlogist Educational Kit - Castillo de San Marcos    

Castillo de San Marcos National Monument & Fort Matanzas
(St. Augustine, FL)

#5 2013 HR Junior Paleonotlogist Educational Kit - Timucuan Kit    

Timucuan Ecological & Historical Preserve/Fort Caroline National Memorial & Kingsley Plantation
(Jacksonville, FL)

#3 2013 HR Junior Paleonotlogist Educational Kit - Canaveral National Seashore    

Canaveral National Seashore
(Titusville and New Smyrna Beach, FL)

2012 Junior Paleontologist Educational Kits

#1 2012 Junior kit 1 -small #2 2012 Junior kit 2-small
National Capital Region
(Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington D.C.)