Study of Rocks for Kids

Mavi has always been fascinated with rocks.  He's been obsessed with rocks and dinosaurs since he discovered Dinosaur Train.  We have piles of rocks in our backyard that he had collected for some time now and he considered them his precious collection.  We've already had our experiment on Rock Cycle and it was a hit.

Thus, I had an idea to do this activity to feed his interest.  I purchased a set of Igneous Rocks and Metamorphic Rocks (I did not get the Sedimentary Rocks but here's the link for your reference), collected more rocks from the seaside and borrowed books from the library to complete our rock study.

Spice Up Your Life!

If you are looking for a quick and easy way to entertain your little ones and at the same time have those sense of smell and taste up to work... I suggest you give them this activity or something similar.

This activity is an introduction to spices.  I love to cook and considering that I am Asian, I use a variety of spices in my homecooked meals. Mavi has always been interested in cooking and would ask what's this and what's that.  So one day when we were stuck at home and he was begging me to give him an activity, this is what we did.

I took out all the spices I have in the spice rack and printed my Herbs and Spices Cards which I made early this year so we can do some smelling, tasting and matching activity.

As you can seem, aside from the powdered spices I also presented the real ones (garlic and ginger).  I ran out of cinnamon sticks though.

So all you needed to do is present each spice, how you use it and where you use it. 

Let them have a smell...

  

touch....

 

and a taste.

We kept on laughing at his reactions, whenever he tasted a spice that he doesn't like for example the garlic and ginger.   Then I asked him questions along the way.  How he would describe the cloves, the peppercorns, the cumin etc.

In the end, it was an enjoyable and fun activity for Mavi.  As you know kids always love to taste and touch things, and they are most interested in those stuff that Mommy use!  So it was nice that he gets to explore spices and how it satisfied his curiosity.

Just in case you don't have any of these spices, just use the ones available in your kitchen! It can be salt, sugar, soy sauce or whatever you feel like using.

Try this and have fun!

Modeling Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic Rocks

It's difficult to explain to a 5 year old how rocks are formed.  Good thing, we read this book Rocks and Minerals (Investigations) , it showed us how to make igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks in ways that a child can easily grasp the concept.

Igneous Rocks.  These rocks are formed when hot molten rocks, magma or lava are cooled into solid.  Here melt the sugar and let it solidify. 

Heat brown sugar with little water on it into high temperature. Mix the sugar and water while it is heating.  Allow it to boil for a while, but don't burn it (turn into black).  When it is piping hot, pour the mixture into a cool baking try.  I placed our sugar mixture into a chilled baking paper. After a few minutes, the sugar will turn into a glassy and brittle toffee.  This process is similar to how igneous rocks are formed and their characteristics which are glassy or smooth and grainy.

My son can't get enough so we made a second version. This time, we poured the boiling sugar mixture in a bowl filled with cold water.

Sedimentary Rocks.  These rocks are formed as small particles of sand, minerals, shells, mud or any matter accumulate at the bottom of the seas, lakes or in deserts. 

  

A multi-layer of sandwich is like a strata rock.  The first layer is a slice of bread, and each filing is laid on top with more slices of bread.

We prepared two sandwiches here, and Mavi's version is the one with sausage and cheese. Notice the differences in the thickness and colors of layers.  Similar to the characteristic of a sedimentary rock.

Metamorphic Rocks.  Metamorphic means "change".  These are formed when igneous or sedimentary rocks are subjected to high temperatures or are crushed by high pressures underground.  So to create our metamorphic rocks, we used our sedimentary rock models and added pressure (Mavi) and heat (mine) on them.

            

We enjoyed our snacks that afternoon.  It was a fun preparing the sandwiches and a good way to learn.

Linking to:

Montessori Monday
TGIF Linky Party
Teach Beside Me
Preschool Corner
Teaching Mama
I Can Teach My Child
Home + School = Afterschool!

Word Families and Rhyming Cards (Complete Pack)

If you've been wondering why for the past few days I'm not so active in Facebook and in blogging, well that's because my son and I are enjoying these wonderful language materials which I created for rhyming games and learning word families. 

Right now, we're learning rhymes and spelling at the same time. According to my son, it's kind of tricky because they may sound the same but the spelling is different. Well of course! That's why I made these materials so he can explore those words and be familiarized with those words so he won't find it difficult to spell them. 

Anyway, a few days ago, I shared a freebie of this pack.  That's because they were the first set I created and was so happy of how my son loved them so I just have to share it! Then he kept on asking for more words and stuff, so I added more into the set and I also added word sliders.

Word sliders or Word Strips as I called it years ago, was the activity I gave to Mavi to practice decoding and reading words. The repetitive words, sounds and patterns in the word families made it easier for him to decode the sound of the letter. It was really effective!  So I added this in my printable in all the word families I have in the pack.

So what's in the file?

• 42 word families (picture cards)
• Each family contains at least 4 words that rhymes and these words are in the same word family.
• There are some words that have 4 additional rhyme words with different spelling (are not member of the word family).  This will show the child that words that rhyme can have different spelling or may come from other word families.
• Control or Master Chart
• Slider Cards for reading practice for each word family