Learn how fossils form, how living things have changed over time and how adaptation can lead to evolution, by digging up fossils on Fossil Coast.
Year 6 science · 1
Year 6 science · 1
Year 6 science · 1
Year 6 science · 2
Year 6 science · 2
What the chapters cover in the national curriculum in England:
Evolution and Adaptation: A Fossil Coast Adventure is an interactive science game that teaches children aged 9–11 how fossils form, what they tell us about life millions of years ago, and how adaptation may lead to evolution. It follows the Year 6 Evolution and inheritance unit in England's national curriculum.
Guided by Ammy the ammonite, players bury an ichthyosaur in sediment, speed up time as the layers turn to rock, and brush away rock to uncover a fossil. They read teeth and rock layers like a palaeontologist, follow horse and whale fossils through time, and tap the adaptations on a polar bear, a camel and a cactus.
In the final chapter, children play a hungry bird hunting peppered moths and watch the population change over generations. They see why variation, survival and passing on features matter, and meet Mary Anning, Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace.
Most fossils form when a living thing dies and is quickly buried by sand and mud, called sediment. Over millions of years the layers harden into rock and minerals replace the bones, until erosion finally uncovers the fossil.
An adaptation is a feature that helps a living thing survive in its environment. A polar bear's thick fur keeps it warm, a cactus stores water in its stem, and hedgehogs hibernating through winter is an adaptation in behaviour.
Living things of the same kind vary, and those best suited to their environment are more likely to survive and have young like them. Over many generations, this can slowly change a whole population, which is evolution.
It is designed for children aged 9 to 11, matching Year 6 science in England. Younger children who enjoy fossils and animals can play with an adult, as the narration reads every instruction aloud.
The game has five chapters, two optional warm-ups and a 10-question Grand Challenge, and takes about an hour to play in full. Each chapter ends with a three-question quick check, and children can pick any chapter from the map.
TapLearnGetting it ready…
Great work on chapter 1! To open the next chapters, ask a grown-up to take a look.
To play this game, ask a grown-up to take a look. There are lots of free games you can play right now too!
Create a free family account and your child can play every chapter of every game for 7 days, with no card needed. Their progress is kept. After that, the free plan is free for ever, and membership is £6.99 a month if you'd like to keep every chapter.
That's all the learning time for today. Great work! Flip will be ready to play again tomorrow.