Rockin’ ‘Round the Rock Cycle

After a fun introduction to rocks and minerals all together, Ryan (8) and I went a little “deeper” into the study while the girls played and did other projects. This is one way we often adapt lessons to fit their different ages.

During our rock and geode collecting field trips, we’d wondered how rocks were formed, and so we began to learn more about the rock cycle through several kid-friendly videos we found online:

Bill Nye the Science Guy

The Rock Cycle (short, simple, animated)

The Rock Cycle (demonstrated with jelly beans)

The videos offered great visuals and to test our understanding we practiced by creating our own rock cycle together on the white board with printed and laminated clip art images.

The first time we saw an image of the rock cycle it confused us with all the all the arrows going all over. But once we realized the cycle is kind of like a “choose your own adventure” for rocks, it made more sense. So we started with the basic “story” which starts with an erupting volcano. When the magma (hot lava) cools it becomes igneous rock. Then over a long, long time the wind and rain and water weather and erode the rock until it becomes tiny pieces of sediment. Sediment deposits in layers (at the bottom of rivers, for example) and over a long, long time, lots of these sediment layers build up. They become compressed and compacted and cemented together with minerals, and form sedimentary rock. When sedimentary rock goes through heat and pressure it becomes metamorphic rock. Metamorphic rock can get so hot it melts, and once again becomes magma.

But wait! That’s just one “adventure” rocks can go through to form. This is why the extra arrows are in the middle of the cycle image. Igneous rocks can also go through heat and pressure, or melt; sedimentary rocks can weather and erode, or melt. And metamorphic rocks can also weather and erode–taking these different rocks through different processes in the cycle. The videos really helped me understand this better. Love that this homeschooling adventure is educating me as much (or more) as the kids.

We made some “Rock Cycle Cookie Bars” to review one part of the process. Food always makes lessons more fun!

We also tried to replicate the experiment demonstrated in the jelly bean rock cycle video. We picked out a lot of our least favorite jelly beans for the experiment, and didn’t consider that melted coffee and black licorice jelly beans would make a house smell so bad(!), but once things aired out, we agreed it was a fun project. Later that night I heard Ryan describing the (jelly bean) rock cycle to his dad–a great confirmation to me that he understood the basic process.

{He kept laughing because the “igneous rock” was so stinky.}

Then to finish up our rock study, Ryan created his own mini version of a rock cycle on a paper plate.

And that wraps up our two-week rock study! We had a great time, I have a better appreciation for the rocks I pull out of my kids pockets when doing the laundry, and I’m hoping this geology introduction will leave good memories so they’ll be excited the next time a “rock” unit comes around.

If any of these activities (plus several more!) interest you, they’re available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

{Clip Art} | {Printable Activities}