How Bashing Rocks for Fossils is safe for your kids

Over the summer we had a dinosaur themed weekend.  We started looking for Fossils on Saturday and ended with watching Dinosaurs roam the O2 on Sunday.   It really was a fantastic weekend that my 6-year-old will be talking about for a long time.

First stop was Fossil Hunting at Beachy Head

69 million-year-old baby nautilus my son cracked open

I booked a guided tour for Fossil Hunting, for many reasons, but mainly for safety!  Through Discovering Fossils website I learnt that not only will we be guided on how and which rocks to hit, but we would also be kitted out with safety goggles and hard hats for the duration too.

This is a must!  Within 5 minutes of being on the rocky beach, I was hit with all sorts of flying debris as my very zealous partner got stuck into a rock!

Safety is paramount for an event like this and followed correctly, you are sure to have a wonderful few hours.

We were also advised to wear walking boots, not flip-flops or any other 'usual' beach footwear.  Beachy Head is very uneven, with massive boulders and rocks to walk over and around.  We needed to protect our feet and be able to secure our footing.

Once completely safe and ready to hunt, Roy Shepherd, our very knowledgeable guide for the day, went through various dinosaur bones that he had, fossils and chalks, explaining about each and passing them around.

Armed with all sorts of dinosaur, fossil and how to dig knowledge, we were then led across and down to the beach front, not a short walk, and I see why many hikers like this area!

Roy then leaves us all to disperse and smash up rocks!

What more could a 6-year-old ask for (and a couple of 40+ year olds)!

We were guided along a section of the beach with Roy at hand to answer any questions that we had, usually "is this is a fossil".  The children are all monitored by their parents, to ensure they were safe!  When I say my son was off smashing rocks, he wasn't on his own!  One of us was always with him and whilst we were giving him the freedom to whack a chisel into a rock, we were also very close by.

It was a really great day out!

The cost of the guided fossil hunt is £6 per child and £9 per adult with the option to purchase your own hammer and chisel for £20.   

This is such a good price for a day out.  I can guarantee the kids are going to love it and even if they don't want to go hammering the rocks, they can scourer the beach for loose fossils and bones.

This picture was taken from Discovering Fossils website

There really is nothing quite like being out in that fresh sea air.

Next stop, Dinosaurs in the Wild!