2.6 The Fossil Badge
Fossils are a difficult thing to a pre-schooler (and trust me I have tried), but The Fossil Badge gives it a good go.
Badge Design
Rectangle with a dinosaur skeleton.
Episode Summary
Opening Squirrel
Norrie playing the recorder.
Set-Up
The Squirrels are digging for treasure. Roly finds a rock with a squiggly bit. They ask Duggee, it’s a fossil. The Squirrels don’t know what a fossil is but Duggee does, he has his fossil badge.
Story
They go back in time to when there were primitive creatures living in the sea and freak events would trap them and they would form fossils. The Squirrels fossil was once a creature and its really old. They fast forward through all the ages of the clubhouse, from a volcano to cave, pyramid, ancient Greece, ancient Rome, a castle, cottage and today.
Fossils can be made from any creatures that lived a really long time ago. This includes dinosaurs which came in all shapes and sizes such as:
- Bettysaurus
- Norriedactyl
- Tyranusroly Rex
- Tritagatops
- Happygator
Then the cave Squirrels arrived, in their cave Squirrels outfits. There are also lots of animals that look a bit like familiar animals but look different too. Roly wonders where the kitchen is. Duggee is cooking over a fire. The Squirrels make their own things, Tag makes a window, Roly makes a table, Tag makes a chair, Happy makes a plate and Betty and Norrie make a fork. Norrie makes art, Roly makes a bed, Happy makes a football, Betty makes a bowl/sieve and Duggee makes wheels. Tag fast-forwards through history on his wheels from stone wheels to wooden, to carriages, to trains to classic cars to his bike.
Bridges
- Duggee in a puff of volcano smoke.
Close and Credits
The parents all arrive in stone vehicles. Enid is a sabre tooth tiger still and Duggee’s kennel is a cave.
Outfits
Duggee starts and ends the episode in his mechanic’s dungarees, fixing a bike. Duggee and the Squirrels all have cave Squirrel outfits with orange with black spots theme. Duggee’s is completed with a yellow tie and is reminiscent of Fred Flintstone. Tag has a variety of outfits as he fast-forwards through time. From his cave Squirrel outfit, he changes to a ruff, then a more elaborate ruff, then a train drivers hat and scarf, then a classic ‘30s leather driving hat and scarf before ending up in his normal clothes with a bicycle helmet.
Get Your Fossil Badge
Visit your local Natural History Museum or dinosaur park.