Rock Collecting {Summer Science Series}

Week 2 of our Summer Science Series with Edventures with Kids is all about geology. Today we’re talking about rock collecting. Affiliate links are included in this post. Thanks for supporting Inspiration Laboratories!

Go Rock Collecting with Kids - Read books about it and head outside to start your own collection!

Let’s Go Rock Collecting

Aiden chose Let’s Go Rock Collecting from the library because he wanted to go rock collecting and add to his collection. In this book, you’ll get an introduction to igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks and learn about a few types of each of the rocks. The book encourages kids to go out and start their own rock collection and try to figure out what types of rocks they have.

Here are two more rock books we enjoyed.

  • If You Find a Rock by Peggy Christian names rocks based on how we play with them – skipping rocks, chalk rocks, climbing rocks, splashing rocks, and more. It’s a great way to get kids talking about the rocks they find.
  • Rocks: Hard, Soft, Smooth, and Rough by Natalie Rosinsky. This book contains similar information to the Let’s Go Rock Collecting book in that they both talk about the types of rocks. Both books present the information in unique ways.

Starting Your Own Rock Collection

Aiden has had a rock collection since he was a toddler. Whenever we go on walks, he collects things. His favorite things to collect are rocks. Walking around the neighborhood, he mostly finds rocks that wash down from people’s driveways – they usually aren’t the most interesting rocks. {They are great for painting though.}

He finds the most interesting rocks on our hikes on the trail, in the woods, near creeks, and especially in dry creek beds. We also look for rocks at the local university. The geology department has a rock pile outside where they toss their unwanted rocks.

Go Rock Collecting with Kids - Read books about it and head outside to start your own collection!

Here are just some of the rocks we’ve found in the pile one day.

Go Rock Collecting with Kids - Read books about it and head outside to start your own collection!

The geology department usually has a lot of core samples where you can see the rock layers. Aiden loves to collect these cylindrical rocks.

Go Rock Collecting with Kids - Read books about it and head outside to start your own collection!

And of course bringing your magnifying glass while wearing a rock shirt adds to the rock hounding experience.

Go Rock Collecting with Kids - Read books about it and head outside to start your own collection!

Once you find some rocks, try to determine what type of rocks they are. Are the igneous or sedimentary, or maybe even metamorphic? Use a rock field guide to help you identify them and find their exact names.

Do your kids enjoy rock collecting? Where do you find your best rocks?

Summer Science Series Weekly Reading Themes

Summer Science Series

Week 1: Biology

Week 2: Geology

Week 3: Astronomy

Week 4: Physics

Week 5: Chemistry

Week 6: Ecology

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