Rocks and Minerals Journal & Hands-on Activities for 2nd to 8th grades

Oftentimes, we don’t even realize how abundant rocks and minerals are in our everyday lives!

Have your kids learn all about the 3 main types of rocks and how they are formed, how to identify minerals by their appearance, and much more with this Rocks and Minerals Unit with a printable Journal!

If your student is interested in learning about geology, they will love this rocks & minerals journal plus hands-on activities!

Your budding geologist can personalize the cover and combine all the pages together in a folder or binder for easy use in the outdoors or wherever they are studying rocks and minerals.

There are 54 different pages for your student to record their knowledge and findings.  This is a great way to document a collection that your child has just started, or as a way to record what they’ve learned in their geology study.

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Resources for your Rocks and Minerals Journal & Hands-On Activities

Online Resources

DK Find Out! Rocks and Minerals

Rock and Mineral Planet

Rocks at the National Park Service

Minerals at the National Park Service

Library List

Select a few of these books:

Rocks and Minerals: A Guide to Field Identification (Golden Field Guide) by Charles A Sorrell

My Book of Rocks and Minerals: Things to Find, Collect, and Treasure by DK

Rocks: Hard, Soft, Smooth, and Rough by Natalie Myra Rosinsky

Rocks & Minerals: A Gem of a Book by Simon Basher

Rocks in His Head by Carol Otis Hurst

A Rock is Lively by Dianne Hutts Aston (You may also want to do the super cute, free activity that goes with this book from my friends at The Art Kit: Rock Themed Playdough Invitation to Play)

Printables

National Mining Association: Click on “Fact Sheet: 40 Common Minerals and Their Uses”

Mohs Hardness Scale

The Rocks & Minerals Journal Printables (see below)

Videos

Types of Rocks & the Rock Cycle video from FreeSchool

The Rock Cycle with Mr. Bradley

Let’s Learn about Rocks and Minerals from Super Simple Play

Geology Kitchen: The 3 Types of Rocks

Hands-On Fun with Rocks and Minerals

Create the 3 types of rocks with Starburst candy

Rock & Mineral Collection Activity Kit (200+Pcs)

Test a rock to see if it is limestone

Have your kids create the rock cycle in Minecraft (use this example if you need help)

Install a geology app on your iPad or Android phone to help you identify rocks and minerals

Complete some of these 12 amazing rock activities, like rock math, or rock sorting.

Go on a nature hike and collect tiny rocks and samples in a paper lunch bag and then use these instructions on how to make rock slime.

Create a sedimentary rock sandwich with these instructions from my friend Carla’s guest post at The Educator’s Spin on It.

Make an Igneous rock treat by making some rice crispy treats in the shape of rocks.

Use Rainy Day Mum’s recipe for slow-cooker Fudge Metamorphic rocks

How to Use the Rocks and Minerals Journal

• Print out all the pages and staple together or put in a folder.

• On the Identifying Minerals page, define a mineral and explain how to identify a mineral by their appearance, shape, hardness, and by their rock.

• Use the Common Minerals pages as a field guide to common minerals.  You can select ones that are common in your area of the world, or just ones that are very abundant on earth. Paste pictures of minerals (10 pictures of common minerals are included, or print your own from the internet) in the boxes and fill in the blanks below.  You can print out as many copies of this page as needed for your student. Note: this page comes in two different levels of difficulty; select the one best suited to your child.

• On the Types of Rocks Labeling worksheets, identify whether the rock is igneous, metamorphic, or sedimentary. This page also comes in two different levels.

• On the 3 Types of Rocks page, list some examples of rocks that fall into each category and paste a sample picture of each kind (pictures are included in the packet).

• Each of the three types of rocks has 2 pages.  Explain how igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks are formed and where to find that type of rock.

• Use the pages labeled “These are all…” as a journal of rocks you find. Describe each rock and paste pictures of them. (There are 18 print & cut pictures included for this or take a picture of your rock.)

• On the “Which are among the deadliest minerals in the world?” page, let your child guess which ones are in the top 10 deadliest, then have her look up the minerals to find the answers. (Hint: Use this post from GeologyIN.)

• Use the Mineral Flashcards to learn the names of 24 different minerals. Comes in labeled and non-labeled cards.

• Includes 24 pages of notebooking printables for writing (and drawing) about the types of rocks and different minerals.

The 54-page Rock & Mineral Journal is available in our HHO Shop

More Geology Resources

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