Activity best for children ages 2 and up

Whenever you go outside, what are some things you usually see? Flowers? Trees? Dirt? There’s a lot of wonderful things that we can find outside. Living on planet earth, we can discover a lot of natural resources and materials. Plants are a good example of a natural resource because they come from nature itself– people cannot build plants the same way we can build cars or machines. Another good example of a natural resource are rocks and minerals. The rocks you find outside also come from the earth and can be turned into something new, like materials to build robots and machines! We can find different rocks and minerals when searching different levels of the earth. Today, we are going to be making our very own Mineral Bottle with things we can find both inside and outside of our home. We’ll get to make our own layers and add our own special “minerals”!

Guiding Questions:

Can you spot 3 things outside that were made from the earth?

Try to find 3 different rocks outside. What makes them different?

Grown Ups-Are you looking for more ways to extend your child’s learning? Check out these extension activities to build upon today’s STREAM activity!

Reading Connections

The Rock Factory: A Story About the Rock Cycle by Jacqui Bailey and Matthew Lilly

Science Connections

Studying rocks can teach us a lot about the history of the earth, especially when we want to learn more about what the earth was like hundreds and thousands of years ago. People who study rocks are called Geologists and their job is extremely important for us to learn more about the earth!

Real World Connections

The earth has many amazing rocks, minerals and natural resources that are used every day by different people all over the world. In the future, you might find a natural resource that could be turned into something else. Whether it be for play or to engineer something new!