A few years back we shared a series about how to teach the different areas of science at home, which you can find here:
The posts in the series have remained some of our most popular posts and so we thought we would help you all out by sharing our favorite experiments for each discipline!
Last month, we shared our top 10 biology experiments. Today, we are going to share about earth science.
Without further ado, here are 8 earth science experiments we don't want you to miss!
The number one earth science experiment we don't want you to miss is to explode a volcano at home! This has been a favorite of my kiddos for years - they still talk about the different volcano creations we have explodes.
Who doesn't love science projects where you can eat what you create? And this edible rock cycle is made with chocolate, which makes it even better! Of course you could use crayons instead, but either way, your kiddos will see how rocks change and form due to heat and pressure.
The early years are a great time to incorporate art and science projects - creating a cloud collage is a wonderful way to do this. Your children will learn about the three main types of clouds as they manipulate cotton balls into different shapes. By the end, they will have a cloud poster to display and return to for years to come.
This simple earth science activity is sure to delight your students. With a bit of water, shaving cream, and food coloring, you can make it rain in your kitchen or dining room, or bathroom, or . . . well, you get the point!
Just like the indoor rainstorm, you can make a bit of snow to play with indoors with two simple ingredients. All you need is a box of cornstarch and a can of shaving cream to be able to mix up a batch of indoor snow to create a snowman!
The ocean is constantly in motion thanks to two types of currents - surface currents from wind and deep currents due to changes in temperature. This earth science activity uses water and food coloring to show your students what deep ocean currents look like and helps them understand what causes them!
Studying the seasons is another earth science activity perfect for the younger crowd! This seasons book is a great start for helping your students to see the changes in the seasons. You can also add in a year-long tree study to see how the seasons affect your own backyard!
And finally, no earth science education would be complete without a rock collection! Of course, you can buy a small (or large) pre-made one, but we prefer following these 5 steps to make our own rock collection from the rocks that surround us every day or from the rocks we collect on a vacation!
I hope that this gets your earth science juices flowing! There are loads more options for earth science activities out there, but these are the eight that we don't want you to miss.
If you want more earth science experiments and activity ideas, check out our Earth Science and Astronomy Pinterest board.
If you want it all pulled together for you, check out the following our homeschool science programs with easy-to-use plans for teaching earth science:
We love notebooking at Sassafras Science! And these ten posts on notebooking will help you understand the how's and why's of this super effective tool.
Stop what you are doing, drop what is in your hands, grab a book, and start reading! And don't forget to come celebrate DEAR Day with Sassafras Science.
