Students at Crescenta-Cañada Cooperative Nursery School (CCNS) uncovered “dinosaur bones” hidden in the sand on their playground and created a volcano.

For over a decade, director Nita Imm has taught her Busy Bears students a lesson about paleontology, teaching how the dinosaurs may have become extinct.

After classroom time, Imm took the lesson outside and, promoting teamwork among the young paleontologists, the students created a volcano from the sand. Shovels and hands worked furiously as they built the volcano and, with the addition of some baking soda and vinegar, the volcano exploded to the cheers of the children as they learned about the chemical reactions.

Still donning their shovels, the dig was on! Having been supplied a map of planted dinosaur bones, the Busy Bears worked together with gusto to see who could find the bones first.

The Crescenta-Cañada Cooperative Nursery School (CCNS) has been teaching and caring for preschool aged children for over 50 years. The goal of CCNS is to provide rich experiences and opportunities for children to develop sound relationships with their peers while providing a nurturing environment where children can develop good feelings about themselves, their abilities and the world around them.