-
Step 1
Check out books on small animal tracks from your local library. Make sure the pictures are big enough to really see the detail. You'll need pictures of raccoon tracks, squirrel tracks, opossum tracks and other small animals.
-
Step 2
Locate an area with a pond, stream or other water source where animals are likely to gather. Find a spot where the mud is soft but no too watery.
-
Step 3
Go to your location with a group of kids early in the morning before tracks made during the night have been disturbed.
-
Step 4
Take several small buckets, a supply of dry plaster of Paris and some water. Don't try and use the water from the stream or pond as you may disturb the fresh tracks.
-
Step 5
Mix together enough plaster of Paris and water to make a batter that pours easy but isn't too thin.
-
Step 6
Search around the water source for animal tracks in the mud. As you find tracks with nice detail, pour enough Plaster of Paris in them to fill the tracks completely. Try to get a pair of indentations rather than just a single track.
-
Step 7
Leave the wet plaster in the tracks for about an hour to dry. When you come back, pop the tracks out of their natural molds and use your tracking book to identify what animals come to that water source to drink.
