Fossil-hunting is an experience every child should have at least once in their lifetime. And it’s a great way to make a holiday educational. Here’s four top spots to take the kids fossil-hunting on holiday.

Charmouth, Dorset, England

They call England’s Dorset and Devon coast the Jurassic Coast for a reason. Around 150 kilometres of coastline stretch through almost 200 million years of history, from the Triassic to the Cretaceous – making it dinosaur central. The coast also helped British scientists discover the notion of extinction, and realise that the world was thousands of orders of magnitude older than conventional interpretations of the Bible believed. Even today, you can wander along the beach and pick up ancient creatures – base yourself out of coastal holiday cottages in Dorset, and explore at Charmouth, where the fossils are not protected.

Wadi Haggag, Sinai, Egypt

For all its biblical history, Egypt’s Sinai Desert is staggeringly rich in fossils – although those the typical tourist can pick up from the surface are mainly marine creatures, typically shells and starfish, deposited during a time when sea levels were 8 metres or so higher than today, and exposed by the winds that still race through the desert. Whether you’re staying in Dahab or Sharm, looking for fossils should be central to any Sinai desert trip with kids.

Savannakhet, Laos

You can’t just pick up fossils around Savannakhet, Laos – although its red sandstone sediments have produced stellar quantities of dinosaur bones. What does make the town worth visiting, at least with kids, is the dinosaur museum. Yes, it’s a small, poor town and the exhibits are hardly stellar. But the curator, a former teacher turned palaeontological guide, will likely be happy to take your kids out the back and show you fossil finds, and explain the fine art of finding dinosaur bones. All you need do is look interested.

Peace River, Florida, US

Sharks are cool. Giant, extinct, prehistoric sharks are better. And giant, extinct, prehistoric shark teeth are probably the ultimate in fossils. Which is why it’s so great that Florida’s Peace River is full of monster shark teeth, from the megalodon, which might well have grown up to 20 metres long, and certainly produced teeth at least 18 centimetres in length (its name actually translates as “giant tooth”). Besides the jumbo monster shark teeth, there are fossilised mammal bones, not to mention real live alligators – though most are afraid of people, and you’re more likely to win the Florida lottery than get nabbed by a gator. The hunting is best between March and May, when water levels are low – opt for a sunny day, and head out in a canoe. Woot!

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Image credit: Jurassic Coast 2013-044 by Kyle Taylor on Flickr’s Creative Commons.