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Google landforms for tons of ideas

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Teaching rocks for kids can be fun, interactive and even yummy with these creative ideas. These 15 activities and ideas are perfect for teaching science about rocks that includes the rock cycle, the types of rocks and more!

You'll even love how these ideas integrate food {yum!}, creativity and songs to meet all learners.

1. Rock Formations Worksheet - Students can take what they know about rocks and use them creatively to create rock formations. This is a more artistic way to work with rocks for kids and makes a great display next to a classroom anchor chart. {Free download}

2. How to Make Edible Rocks {A Rock Buffet} - This idea had my mouth watering as I explored the fun ways that students can illustrate how rocks are made by using rice krispie ingredients. This is perfect for introducing the three observable properties of minerals before moving onto the three basic types of rocks. Yum! You'll also love the video connection.

3. About Rocks Anchor Chart - When you're working on beginning a rock science investigation in the classroom, you'll most likely begin a new list of vocabulary words.

The place to start is with the words the students want to use to describe the rocks when they are observing them. What a great way to make their words become part of the investigation.

4. How to Make a Rock - Use ingredients that are easy to have on hand. All you need are cups, glue, sand, pebbles and a disposable cup.

This activity is a great one to have students record in their science journals and to have their own material to keep. What a fun and neat way to make science come alive!

5. Rocks for Kindergarten Science Journals - A great unit for kindergarten students that takes them on an exploration of rocks and soil with ideas on investigation, experimenting, observing and getting all of these ideas down into their science journals.

You'll love the simplicity and thoroughness of the pictures that'll make this feel like a teacher tutorial that is easy to do. {Free download}

6. Comparing Soil Investigation - Here is a great way to wrap up a rock unit. Bring in the scientific method to help students explore which type of soil is best for planting and putting what they know to the test. This is great for first graders! {Free download}

7. Guess My Rock Activity - This activity is great for older students. They can use gathered rocks and create the questions for a partner or a display in which they list the description or properties of the rock.

It's a great way for them to apply what they know to found rocks. Turn it into a rock hunt to make it fun!

8. The Rock Cycle Diagram and Song - Here is a sure-fire way to help students see the connections between igneous rock, metamorphic rock and sedimentary rock.

They can create a diagram that illustrates the cycle and use this nifty song to the tune of "We Will Rock You" that is sure to have them hooked.

9. Rocks by Characteristic - In kindergarten, students can learn to sort rocks by different categories. Here is a great example of how students can learn to be problem solvers to organize their data and then explore the concept of sorting using various categories like size, texture, color, etc.

10. Rock Definition Worksheet - If you just need a quick worksheet to practice the definitions for sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks, then this one will do it.

Students can trace, define and color a picture to match. {Free download}

11. Three Types of Rock Video - Need another way to help students learn the 3 types of rocks during your rocks and soil unit? Here is a 2 minute video that might help.

It also helps reinforce that characteristics of each as well as the word " geology " perhaps just the thing you need to reach a different style of learner when teaching rocks for kids.

12. Pebbles, Sand and Silt Module from Foss - This website includes and activity for students to find the materials that came from the Earth, images, audio stories and movies.

Have your class generated a question and needs to ask a scientist. They can do that on the website. What a great collection of ideas and resources.

13. My Pet Rock Worksheets - If you like to bring in pet rocks into your unit, here are 3 free worksheets. Students can weigh, measure and illustrate their pet rock. What a fun and creative way to wrap up a unit and take some learning home. {Free download}

14. Rock Research Literacy and Math Activities - Here is a great set of literacy and lath activities that will all incorporate rocks for kids soil.

Students can use the included worksheet to research a rock and keep tabs on various experiments that can do like a vinegar test, sink/float, magnetic, scratch or brightness. {Free download}

15. Rock Cycle Stations - Take students through the cycle of a rock by setting up stations (for grades 3-6) and color coded stations.

Students will love the concept of rolling to see what happens to them as they, a rock, continue on their journey. It's a great way to have them live out the cycle and compare experiences.

You may also totally dig this science collection: Clouds Science for Kids: 23 Smart Ideas for the Classroom

Thanks to these teachers for their free downloads and creative lesson ideas. Your activities are fantastic! Feel free to grab the "I'm a Featured Teach Junkie" blog button as your ideas are definitely worth the shout out.

More Science Lesson Ideas:

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Rocks for Kids - 15 Fun Activities and Ideas - Teach Junkie

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Teaching rocks for kids can be fun, interactive and even yummy with these creative ideas. These 15 activities and ideas are perfect for teaching science about rocks that includes the rock cycle, the types of rocks and more!

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Idea for a poster

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My oldest son (8-years old when I wrote this Instructable) is in Cub Scouts.
As part of one of the requirements we were trying to fulfill, our Wolf/Bear Den (combined meeting) performed Elective 15, Water and Soil Conservation, to earn an arrow. (This is all part of the Cub Scout Bear handbook, shown in one of the photos in this step.)

This Instructable shows how our Wolf (and Bear) Den met Requirement 15 (b) Conduct a soil experiment, and (d) found out what erosion is and what kinds of grasses, trees, and ground cover the cub scouts should plant to help limit erosion in one of our meetings.

My kids and I made a video using our sample material covered areas to perform the erosion experiment. It's 2-minutes long and shows what came out of the different erosion scenarios as water was poured over them.
As always, my videos are just for giggles and fun, so please watch it as if you were eight to nine (8 - 9) years old!

Step 1: What Is Erosion & What Does It Look Like?

So the question that had to be answered by the Cub Scouts (part of Requirement 15d) is "What is erosion?"

The simple answer is that erosion is the process of eroding or being eroded by wind, water, or other natural agents.*

What does "erode" mean?

Again, the simple answer is to gradually wear away soil, rock or land by natural elements such as wind, water, or other natural agents.*

I am a Civil Engineer by trade. Because I am a mother however, I tend to answer things very simply, and show my children (if possible) what the answer is.

What does erosion look like?
While driving around for my job one day, I caught a glimpse of a two very real examples of erosion, and those photos are attached to this step.
One set of three photos is of a hill that has distinct lines that are caused by eroding material. I zoomed in as close as I could get to show the erosion marks - probably caused by water drainage.
The second set of two photos is a good example of three different types of ground cover, rock, compacted soil, and bark. (The forth could be considered the asphalt, if you want to be picky.) The photos show a hole where water drained off the road, down the path of least resistance, and eroded the material by the edge of the embankment.

Please feel free to use these photos in your own Erosion Experiment, by giving me credit for the photo itself. You can download the photos from Flickr: Erosion Photos by DeAndrasCrafts on Flickr
*Indicates answers to questions asked into the Google search engine box.

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Step 2: Performing an Erosion Experiment

I'll admit, the entire basis of our Cub Scout erosion experiment was based off of the Pinterest pin you see in the photo above.

I did not think I was going to do an Instructable for this Experiment, just a blog post, so my research was limited to asking the Den Leader what type of experiment we had to perform.

She was very happy with this proposal and on we went with it.

Anyway, there is no link to the attached photo I pinned to my Scouts board, so I did what any crafty-Engineer mom would do and did my own version of the photo using items that we had nearby or for our home.

Steps 3 through 5 show how we prepared for the experiment, and Step 6 describes what we could have done differently if this experiment was for a Science Fair.

Step 3: Prep of Containers

What we used for the containers:

three (3), clear, one-gallon size, square-based plastic water containers to hold our soil/cover material

three cut-off tops to 2-liter size clear soda pop bottles

twine

hole punch

measuring cup (we measured the rock)

bottle to hold and pour the water for the erosion scenarios

Preparing the erosion scenario containers:
As I used a box cutter to prepare the containers, I cut about one (1) inch or so of plastic off the top of it, after removing the label. I cut the container using my steady hand (insert snorting laugh) and recycled the plastic piece that came off.

In a previous Cub Scout meeting, we planted sunflower seeds inside the bottom half of recycled 2-liter soda pop containers. There's a photo that shows the sunflower sprouting in the soda pop container and the top of the container cut off in front of it.
The same cutting operation as described above with the box cutter was performed to get the top off the three clear soda pop containers, and those were done about 3-inches or so below the inlet of the soda pop container.

Prepare the water catch:
With the hole punch, I pushed the entire hole punch tool to the end (I would estimate about 3/4-inch from the tip of the punch itself) so that the hole wouldn't tear if it were closer to the edge of the cut plastic.

I measured the string so that it would hang just below the lowest point of my kitchen table, as we knew this experiment was going to be performed inside.

I tied a double knot on each end of the twine and hung the water catches around the ends of the FULL erosion scenario containers.

Step 4: Erosion Scenarios

What we used to demonstrate various erosion scenarios:

1st Scenario - grown grass from seeds (I talk about this more below)

2nd Scenario - rock (we used a size 3 sieve, or more specifically 'pea gravel') over loose soil

3rd Scenario - loose soil over rock

We filled all three containers to about 1/2 of the opening was uncovered.

Scenario 1: Soil covered by grass
I knew I wanted to use grass for one of the three containers to show erosion.
We didn't have grass seed in our home, so we used what my husband calls a grass seed/lint mixture ( Scotts Patch Master Sun and Shade Mix

I prepared and planted the grass seed/lint mixture in one of the three containers, a month prior to the meeting we were going to have.
Note: This process could be replaced by using rolled sod, something I wasn't will to pay for for the purposes of this experiment. I go into more detail of what other options could be used to demonstrate erosion in Step 6.

Scenario 2: Soil covered by rock
All of the rock was washed in a strainer to get rid of any loose dust that might have been a nuisance to some of the boys who have allergies.
I measured the rock into 4-cups to fill the top half of the 2nd erosion scenario (rock over soil) and 4-cups of rock to fill the bottom half of the 3rd erosion scenario (soil over rock.)
For this second scenario, the bottom half of the container was filled with dirt, while the top half was filled with 4-cups of the size 3 sieve rock.

Scenario 3: Rock covered by soil
We had planting soil from our local hardware store (so that we could plant the sunflowers.)
My cub-scout son helped me prepare these scenarios so he placed the soil over the pre-measured 4-cups of rock.

Step 5: Performing the Experiment W/the Cub Scouts

At the beginning of the cub scout meeting, we talked with the boys what erosion was, what erode meant and what kinds of ground cover there was around our neighborhood.

I asked the boys which of the three types of scenarios would allow the most material (soil or rock, not water) to come off into the catch. Two of the three boys stated that the soil over rock would come off the most (Erosion Scenario No. 3) and one stated that the rock would pour out of the hole the most after the water poured over it (Erosion Scenario No. 2.)

To perform this experiment with the boys, I removed the caps from all three of the erosion scenarios and we dumped out any initial material that fell from the opening.

One boy poured the water into the soil covering rock scenario (No. 3) and the soil fell easily into the catch along with the water.

The next boy poured the water into the rock basin covering the soil (No. 2.) The rock stayed put, and the water came out much cleaner than the soil covering the rock.

Finally, the third boy poured the water over the sparsely grown grass (Scenario No. 1.) The water was completely emptied out of the container and no water came out at all from the initial pouring.

"What's happened?" One curious Cub Scout asked.

"The grass has grown roots into the dirt we can't see. Those roots are keeping the water in the soil." I told him.

We filled the container again and continued to pour more water over the sparsely grown grass. The top layer of grass "broke" and soil and water finally poured into the catch.
Conclusions
The boys made the conclusion that the uncovered soil washed away more than the rock and the grass. In our experiment, Scenario No. 2 or the rock covered soil had the cleanest water in the catch, although the boys made the observation that the grass covered soil could hold more water although it still allowed some soil to pour out when the grass layer became over-saturated. Thus the rock covered soil eroded the least amount of soil.

We continued to talk about what kinds of other things we could have used to put over the uncovered soil so that the water would come out clean. The boys thought of many different ideas and I go over a few of them in the next step.

Step 6: Different Scenarios for Erosion

Because this experiment was performed for a Cub Scout Requirement and not a Science Fair, I wanted to give additional suggestions, and the other ideas the boys thought up while we discussed what type of Erosion Control was present in our neighborhood.

We started the meeting by going around our neighborhood and picking up garbage. This met several Cub Scout requirements and it got the boys a chance to look at the exposed areas of soil and what was growing as ground cover and landscaping.

I have attached three photos that show the three types of materials listed in this Erosion Experiment of sparsely grown grass, rock covered soil, and native soil (or dirt). Those photos were all taken in rural parts of the County I work in, and NOT around the city we live in.

The boys (think 8-9 years old) when asked " What type of erosion cover do we have in our neighborhood?" (or a question as part of Requirement 15d) gave answers for things that would also make good choices to test out for an erosion experiment.
Potential Options for Erosion Scenarios

sod or pre-grown roll out grass

an all grass-seed mix (not like ours with lint)

various bush-like ground cover, although I'm not sure if this would be possible to plant on a small scale

wild flowers or pre-grown flowers such as those planted for landscaping

landscaping bark

larger rocks than pea gravel

different layers of the above mentioned material in different scenarios

I hope this Instructable helps someone. Please let me know if it did and thanks for reading!

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Cub Scout Erosion Experiment: My oldest son (8-years old when I wrote this Instructable) is in Cub Scouts. As part of one of the requirements we were trying to fulfill, our Wolf/Bear Den (combined meeting) performed Elective 15, Water and Soil Conservation, to earn an arrow. (...

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This is just one simple example. Google how to make a volcano other ideas.

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Everyone should know how to make a volcano with kids! This DIY volcano is at the top of the list of easy science experiments for kids. Little ones are fascinated by the fizzy baking soda and vinegar volcano "lava" and can't wait to do the activity over and over again.

There are a lot of ways you can make a volcano with kids, but for this version, you will need some sort of container to hold the ingredients and then you will also need something to help build up the volcano shape around the container.

Playdough works wonderfully for this, but there are many other options that take even less prep than the instructions we are sharing here.

You can even skip the playdough all together and just use the cup to see the fizzy baking soda and vinegar reaction overflow.

I'm telling you, it doesn't get much easier than this!

Volcano Experiment Ingredients

How to Make a Homemade Volcano

There are lots of ways you can make a homemade baking soda and vinegar volcano, but I have found it easiest to have a small container you can place the baking soda in.

I cut a small disposable paper cup in half, about 2 inches from the bottom to hold the baking soda.

Note:If you have a recycled mini ice cream cup leftover from a party, that would work great!

Next we used some old playdough that was starting to dry out to make a base for the volcano. My son placed the bottom part of the cup on top of a ball of playdough to form the base.

Then, my son used more playdough to build up around the base and make it look more like a volcano shape.

Once the volcano is ready, take it outside. Pour a little baking soda into the top of the volcano.

Pour vinegar in a cup.

Add a drop or two of red food coloring.

Pour the red vinegar into the top of the volcano and watch what happens!

My son loved this! He has worked with baking soda and vinegar before, but he didn't remember how the two react to each other. He was excited because he was allowed to do all the steps by himself and took ownership of his learning. He wanted to see the fizzing volcano more than once, which led to an afternoon of giggles.

Volcano Books for Kids

Pair this easy science experiment for kids with these volcano books for kids to help them learn about real volcanoes.

More Easy Science Experiments for Kids
Moon Crater Science Experiment
Simple Science: Observing Worms
How to Make a Sundial with Kids
Vinegar & Baking Soda Balloon Experiment

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Simple Science: How to Make a Volcano with Kids

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Need a super easy science experiment for kids? Learn how to make a volcano with kids using baking soda and vinegar in a playdough volcano base.

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Paragraph describing the science behind the project you have chosen to do. This could go along with a model of a volcano, demonstration of an erupting volcano, or poster of the parts of a volcano.

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Fun idea if students want to make a movie/demonstration

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Lots of ideas for earthquake models and plate techtonic movement

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Is this your domain?Connect it to your Wix website in just a few easy steps:

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Cool visual of epicenter

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also shows plate movement during an earthquake.

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All Ages

Our earthquake activities book is designed for students in all grades. Kids will learn how to make their own tin can seismograph, a pizza of the Earth, and create seismic waves.

The materials used in this activity book are usually easy to find around the house or at a local store. Each activity in this book is related to earthquakes. It is fun for students to learn why the Earth shakes, rattles and rolls.

Activities include:

Seismic Waves

Pizza of the Earth

Circle Mobile

Moving Plates

Earth's Mantle

Shaky Ground

Tin Can Seismograph

Fascinating facts about earthquakes

All earthquakes create P waves and S waves that travel through the body of the Earth. P waves are compression waves that compress rocks and expand them as they pass through the Earth.

Love waves and Rayleigh waves are only produced during large earthquakes. They only travel along the surface of the Earth. Sometimes they will travel around the surface of the Earth several times they stop.

The inner and outer core of the Earth were discovered using earthquake waves. The outer core was discovered by a scientist studying S waves that stopped when they reached a boundary inside the Earth. S waves do not travel through liquids only solids.

More Science Activity Books

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Our earthquake activities book is designed for students in all grades. Kids will learn how to make their own tin can seismograph, a pizza of the Earth, and create seismic waves. The materials used in this activity book are usually easy to find around the house or at a local store.

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Scroll through link for lots of ideas

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My two fifth grade classes spent the month of December studying Earth Science. They completed an Earth Layer project at home and an Earth Science slide show on their Chrome books in class. We shared them Tuesday before vacation. I was very pleased with their creative ideas!!!

Here are two of the slide shows:

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Scientific Saturdays: Layers of Earth Projects and Earth Science Power Points

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My two fifth grade classes spent the month of December studying Earth Science. They completed an Earth Layer project at home and an Earth Science slide show on their Chrome books in class. We shared them Tuesday before vacation. I was very pleased with their creative ideas!!!

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Model the layers of the earth

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Make a seismometer. Google to find other examples of homemade seismometers.

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Earthquakes occur when parts of the Earth's crust and upper mantle move suddenly. Large earthquakes can cause catastrophic amounts of damage so it's very important to be able to predict when they might happen.

Earthquakes are detected using a seismometer which detects vibrations in the earth. We've made a very simple model of a seismometer to demonstrate how they work.

How to make a seismometer model

Materials

Shoebox

Paper or plastic cup

Pencil or felt tip

Scissors

String

Sellotape

Long paper

Seismometer Instructions

Carefully make two holes in the top of the box, ask a grown up to help with this part.

Next, make another hole in the centre of the bottom of the plastic or paper cup and two holes on either side of the top of the cup.

Push your pen or pencil through the bottom hole and make sure it's secure. Just a couple of cm of the pen should be poking through the bottom.

Thread your string through the two holes in the cup and then through the holes in the box and tie securely. The cup should be dangling down inside the box. You need to tie the string so the pen rests on the bottom of the box.

Carefully make a slit on either side of the bottom of the box and cut a length of paper that will pass through the slits.

Thread the paper through the slits.

Place your seismometer on a flat surface and ask a friend to shake the box while you pull the paper.

You should see a wiggly line on the paper. The more you shake the box the wider the lines will be.

Try making different types of movements to see how they change the line created.

More Earthquake Science

Test foundations made from different materials with this easy investigation.
Learn about plate tectonics with an orange.

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Earthquake Science - Make a Model Seismometer

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Earthquakes occur when parts of the Earth's crust and upper mantle move suddenly. Large earthquakes can cause catastrophic amounts of damage so it's very important to be able to predict when they might happen. Earthquakes are detected using a seismometer which detects vibrations in the earth.

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demonstrate 3 types of rocks with Starburst

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We just finished our rock and minerals unit in science. One of the best activities we did was this Starburst Rock Cycle. I can't take credit for it and if you know who came up with the idea, please let me know so that I can thank them! My kids absolutely loved this lesson and can really identify the different types of rocks now!

We started off our unit with three different centres to classify the three types of rocks; igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic. Anything hands on is always a blast!

Now, anything hands on that involves candy....well, that just makes me the best teacher ever! I was thrilled when I found this idea!

I used Power Point to create a slide show with the different steps to this activity. Prior to the lesson, I made the igneous rock myself, using three Starburst candies and a microwave. I didn't do this step with the kids because I didn't want them to burn themselves and getting 29 students to use 1 microwave was just not possible.

The first rock we made was the sedimentary rock. The kids cut up their three Starburst candies with scissors. Some made tiny pieces, others were happy with just cutting them into quarters. Then, we pressed the "sediments" together to make a sedimentary rock.

We then warmed up our "rocks" in our hands and by blowing on them. It didn't take long for the candy to get warm! We folded it a few times and we had "metamorphic" rocks!

The kids made the connection between the three types of rocks and how they're created. What an awesome lesson that was! Everyone, every single one of my 29 (yes, 29!!) students was completely engaged for the entire lesson!

Challenge accepted, I need to teach more lessons like this!

Here is the lesson plan, PowerPoint presentation and worksheet that I created for my students! It's also available in French!

The entire Rocks and Minerals unit is now available! Check it out for more fun, hands-on activities and lessons, plus 3 assessment tasks with rubrics!

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We just finished our rock and minerals unit in science. One of the best activities we did was this Starburst Rock Cycle. I can't take credit for it and if you know who came up with the idea, please let me know so that I can thank them!