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I am teaching in our school's Science Lab this year for the first time. I have never taught about fossils before and am very excited about doing this in a hands-on lesson. I want to do a classic "dig" in an affordable way. I will use this with 6 3rd grade classes, so economy is important, I would appreciate suggestions. Thanks!

Get plastic containers with low sides of whatever size works best for you and fill them with sand. Shoe boxes also work. Put in small inexpensive fossils like sharks teeth or plastic fossils. Then let the students dig with "tools" such as small sticks and brushes, whatever tool you can think of that is handy (plastic forks and spoons).

http://www.kcedventures.com/blog/create-your-own-dinosaur-dig-for-kids found some ideas that can help with making your own excavation site!

I love the webiste posted by Rudi. Another great resource are fossil kits you can buy. Some can be expensive to get an entire class kit and may be more economical to have students work in groups but this one is a cheaper one I found http://www.windycitynovelties.com/dig-out-dino-fossil.html?gclid=Cj0KEQjw4827BRDJvpbVuKvx-rIBEiQA2_CzsAa-XAYj_qUDaA-nWzh5wTlBAgOlQ8ZYpeosr3E5bsEaAqsM8P8HAQ I love the idea of having students do actual digs to learn about fossils and to make their own fossils with clay.

I love all the ideas and websites posted on here thus far. Salt dough is great for making your own fossil bones. There are many recipes and directions for this on Pinterest. It is fairly economical, especially if needed in large quantities. Another idea I had was buying cheap bags of toy dino-skeletons. My son has a large bag of these that we got at a dollar store I believe. As far as the kits go, I know they can be expensive, but I have found some at the $5 and below store before. My 11 and 5 year old used them and they loved them and the kits worked great.