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    • Physical Science Index >
      • Blowing Bubbles
      • Magnify!
      • Ways to Measure Time
      • Magnetic Attraction
      • Ramps in Motion
      • Ice Melting
      • Sink or Float a Boat
      • Sponges and water
      • Dropping Things Through the Air
      • Static Electricity
      • Battery Electricity
      • Properties of Soap and Water
      • Weights and Balances
      • How Can Heat Change Things?
      • Tools Can Help Us Do Things
      • Lifting with Levers
      • Earth and Sky Science Index >
        • Shadow Chasing
        • Sun Effects
        • The Night Sky
        • Kinds of Clouds
        • Dressing for the Season
        • Classifying Rocks
        • Colors of the Rainbow
        • Who Has Seen the Wind?
        • Rain
        • Snow
        • Litter Hunt
        • We Can Take Care of the Earth
      • Wheels
      • Predicting How Simple Machines Will Work
      • Computers and Other Devices
      • Discoveries With Straws
      • Different Ways of Making Light
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Classifying Rocks


Core Learning Experience + Supplies and Equipment

  • Go on a neighborhood walk with a plastic baggie to collect rocks. Encourage searching for a variety of sizes, shapes, and colors. Also encourage decision-making skills when choosing which rocks to collect. 
  • Set out your rock collection and examine the rocks. Find the biggest, smallest, on that is 2 colors, on with a sharp point, a smooth one etc. Line the rocks up from biggest to smallest.
  • Dump a bucket of dirt from outdoors in the sensory box. Pick out all the rocks. Did you know that some of the rocks might be as small as the smallest pieces of the dirt? Count your rocks.

Possible/Expected Discoveries

  • ​Chunks of rocks come in many sizes and shapes, from boulders to grains of sand and even smaller. Much of our Earth is made up of different kinds of rocks.
  • Fossils are rocks that have the imprint or shape of a natural item from long ago. Scientists learned about dinosaurs by examining bone fossil in very old rocks.
  • What do you think will happen if you put some rocks in water? Will they melt? Will they change colors? Let’s try it.
  • Here I have a big rock, a medium rock, and a small rock. Which one do you think is the heaviest? The lightest? Hold one in each hand and tell me. Try weighing them on a balance scale

Extended Learning and Other Curriculum Areas

  • ​Have available a variety of pictures and photos of different kinds of rocks and rock formations, including Uluru in Australia
  • Try to find an area in your neighborhood where large rock face has been cut into to create a road etc, so the children can observe how different strata can be formed.
  • Decorate and paint a “Pet Rock”, and either keep it or wash it and replace it.
  • Pebble Picture – glue real pebbles on card; encourage thinking before placing them. They can be glued on a pre-drawn shape
Preschool science activities - rocks

Activity Packs and Printables

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​Let’s Go Rock Collecting by Roma Gans

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This site is sponsored and supported by the preschool themes site www.KidSparkz.com
Activities written by (c) Susan Portman
Pre-K, Kindergarten, First, Second, Third, Homeschooler - TeachersPayTeachers.com
Copyright © 2005-2023 Teach Preschool Science - Permission granted to reproduce for personal educational use only. Commercial copying or selling is prohibited. No part of this resource may be uploaded to, or published on, any other site for any reason.
  • Home
  • Lesson Plans Index
    • Life Science Plants and Animals >
      • Comparing Leaves
      • Exploring Pumpkins
      • Shucking Corn
      • Earthworm Observation
      • Parent and Baby Animals
      • Collecting Ants
      • Spider Season
      • Visit to a Pet Store
      • Living and Non Living Things
      • Animals Come in Many Shapes, Sizes and Colors
      • Ways Animals Move
      • Animals Need to Eat
      • Difference Between Wild and Tame Animals
      • People Can Use Products Provided by Animals and Plants
      • Animal Coverings - Hair, Fur, Feathers, Scales and Skin
      • Animals Live in Different Places
      • Metamorphosis and Change in Biology
      • Nocturnal Animals
      • Egg Science
      • Exploring Fish
      • Tree Skin Bark
      • Roots Growing Potatoes in Water
      • Stems - Making Daisy and Clover Chains
      • Flowers
      • Digging in the Dirt
    • Life Science People Index >
      • Parts of Our Body and How We Use Them
      • Our Heart
      • Our Hands
      • Our Feet
      • Fun With Balance
      • Sound Search
      • Sense of Touch
      • Exploring the Sense of Sight
      • Follow That Scent
      • Stop That Germ!
      • Interesting Tools That Doctors Use
      • We Need Healthy Teeth
      • Keep Those Muscles Moving!
    • Physical Science Index >
      • Blowing Bubbles
      • Magnify!
      • Ways to Measure Time
      • Magnetic Attraction
      • Ramps in Motion
      • Ice Melting
      • Sink or Float a Boat
      • Sponges and water
      • Dropping Things Through the Air
      • Static Electricity
      • Battery Electricity
      • Properties of Soap and Water
      • Weights and Balances
      • How Can Heat Change Things?
      • Tools Can Help Us Do Things
      • Lifting with Levers
      • Earth and Sky Science Index >
        • Shadow Chasing
        • Sun Effects
        • The Night Sky
        • Kinds of Clouds
        • Dressing for the Season
        • Classifying Rocks
        • Colors of the Rainbow
        • Who Has Seen the Wind?
        • Rain
        • Snow
        • Litter Hunt
        • We Can Take Care of the Earth
      • Wheels
      • Predicting How Simple Machines Will Work
      • Computers and Other Devices
      • Discoveries With Straws
      • Different Ways of Making Light
  • Teaching Notes
  • Links
  • Contact