Need advice again on a "craft project"-- use of mortar mix; thin-set; dirt-crete

[Mmathis]

Background info: You can skip all this and get to the gist of my question if you want to.....

Cub Scout Camp, teaching activity......

I am taking (8) separate groups of Cub Scouts -- first graders, called Tiger Cubs -- on mini-hikes next Saturday. I did it this past weekend [yes >> pulling out hair <<<].

Since these are the very youngest Cub Scouts, the requirements for "the hike" are simple -- thank goodness, as they only give us 20 minutes with each group.

One requirement is to "look for evidence that animals have been on the trail." I want to show them some animal tracks [I taught an old merit badge 5 years ago -- Tracking, but it used to be called Stalking -- and it was fascinating!] Very problematic to have animal tracks now, for multiple reasons, but the biggest is that we're in a "drought," so the ground is hard and any cover dirt is shallow and silty. Not conducive.

(I did find an armadillo carcass at our Troop's campsite -- I bagged it up and deposited it on the trail )

The camp organizers loaned me several sets of prepared, life-size animal print stamps that you can press into plaster or into the ground to make tracks, but with the silty soil, the tracks don't last. And there will be a gazillion little Cub Scouts and their families walking all over that place next weekend, so you can imagine what that's going to do to anything "man-made."

This past Saturday, I tried just mixing some native soil with water, but it wasn't making satisfactory prints, so.......
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If you skipped reading the above, background info, start here:

So, here is my plan for making "fake" animal tracks:

I want to go out to the Scout Ranch sometime this week and prepare some "fake" animal tracks along the trail we will be using. As I stated above, the ground isn't conducive to this.

My idea: to obtain something like mortar mix -- scrape out or lightly dig several small areas in the soil. Mix the soil and the mortar mix together [or just use the mortar mix sans native soil] with water for a "natural -looking" effect -- then use the stamp to make the track -- moving on to another area, etc.. I don't have to make a lot of tracks, but enough that the kids can "discover" them while on our hike. And the tracks don't have to last forever, so as long as they last through next weekend, we're good. They can even be crumbly so that they will "crumble" back into and become part of the native soil -- LEAVE NO TRACE!

I know that concrete has to cure forever and has to stay moist, but when I read about mortar mix, it seemed like it would harden and be OK within a day or so. After I make these tracks, I won't be able to go out there again until the weekend to check on them or do any maintenance. And ideally, I would like to be able to spread a layer of dirt or leaves over them to protect them until Saturday -- I don't want them to be trampled on.

So while I've been trying to research the best way to do this, I was wondering if I should line the areas with plastic before I add the mortar mix -- kind of like lining a teeny, tiny little pond -- then make the tracks over this (the plastic would keep the dry soil underneath from leaching out any moisture from the mix). Or, just pour the stuff straight over the native soil and hope for the best. I plan to experiment here at the house first, but the soil here is different from what's at the Scout Ranch.

I guess I could just mix some plaster of Paris and make the prints in that...... But I want the Cubs to think they're seeing REAL LIVE animal tracks on the trail we hike. Plaster looks like plaster.
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Any ideas or suggestions? Or questions [like why am I wanting to go to this much trouble, LOL]?

 

[snoozer]

My son used mortar mix as a mold for aluminum casts that he made for some project. I would think if you made a shallow hole and filled with the mix and stamp your print it should work for you. You may need to do a couple trial prints at home so you know about how stiff to mix the mortar. Good luck and have fun

 

[Mmathis]

Follow-up:

I used a quick setting mortar mix. Tried one at home. Went out the afternoon before (I needed them) and rooted around for a few likely spots. Ended up only using the deer print stamp as it was going to be the easiest and most predictable.

The tracks were perfect and there were only a couple of the kiddos (1st graders) who questioned that they weren't real -- I made several "deals" that afternoon, LOL!

The "art" was in getting the mix to be at the correct level so that it didn't look like I'd dug a hole and dumped mortar mix in it. Also, I had a couple colors of liquid concrete colorant that I mixed with the water -- plus, a squirt bottle with colored water to spray around the spot for blending in.

In this pic the mix was fresh & still wet. By the next day it looked just like the native soil! I did good!!

 

[MitchM]

What about going to a local chinese market, butcher, taxidermist and getting some real hooves, chicken feet, whatever and using those for making the prints?

 

[tbendl]

You did awesome!

 

[Mmathis]

What about going to a local chinese market, butcher, taxidermist and getting some real hooves, chicken feet, whatever and using those for making the prints?

I'll keep that in mind next time it comes up.

 

[adavisus]

google images of animal foot prints

A stream of good water with wet sand along it would be a good location for tracks.

 

[Mmathis]

)

google images of animal foot prints

A stream of good water with wet sand along it would be a good location for tracks.

It's already taken care of. Yeah, our problem is that we're in a drought plus the fact that there were only 20 min. allotted for these little hikes -- I would have loved to take the kiddos to the lake-front where there would be tons of tracks (mostly deer, raccoon, and coyote), for them to see. But, alas, I had to manipulate the environment to make this happen. For first-graders, I think they fell for it. As I told one parent, "It's no different than a trip to a Disney park," LOL!