Rock Week

If your kids are anything like mine, they love to collect and play with rocks.  Why not turn their fascination with rocks into a fun learning experience?

I recommend getting an inexpensive rock kit for the kids to observe through the week.  Amazon sells some pretty good kits for a decent price: Click Here

• Day 1:
• Begin making Rock Candy – this takes a week, so it’s best to start on Monday.
• Watch “Way Cool Science – Rockfinders” (found this video at the library)
• Talk about where rocks and minerials are located and how they are used.
• Then visit the different areas to collect rocks. Creek beds, river banks, beach, parking lots, etc.
• Using a Field Guide, Poster or Rock Kit, identify and journal the different kinds of rocks that were found.

• Day 2: Igneous rocks
• Watch video
• Read “Volcanic Rocks by Connor Dayton“
• Break open Geodes
• Journal what was found inside the rocks.
• Listening activity: Place all Geodes on table.  Describe a specific Geode and have kids take turns trying to figure out which one is being described.  Kids can then take turns too.

• Day 3: Sedimentary Rocks
• Read  “Rocks in My Head – Carol Otis Hurst“
• Make Sedimentary Rock Snack Bars
• Make Sedimentary Rocks out of different colors of Sculpey.  Simply let kids play with different colors, telling them to layer the colors on top of each other.  Then cut squares so you can see the layers.  Bake according to directions.

• Day 3:  Metamorphic Rocks 
• Read “Rocks and Minerals – Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld“
• Watch Video
• Make one or all of these rock crafts:
• Dominos – Then play a game of dominos.
• Paint letters on the rocks and spell new words learned this week (add words on rocks to make sentences for older kids).
• Spell out letters with rocks like this.
• Rocks Wordsearch

• Day 5: Field trip to Crystal Cave 
• If you don’t have a place like Crystal Cave in your area, you could go for a hike to view different rocks at the top of a mountain.

Don’t forget to take your journals, cameras and rock snacks on your fields trips.  Have a rock’n time!

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More great “Rock Books” I discovered:

• “If You Find a Rock” by Peggy Christian
• “Rocks” by Sally M. Walker

Tagged: crystal cave, igneous, metamorphic, rock unit, rocks and minerals, sedimentary, summer theme week