Science Camp Part One: Geology

 For the month of July, we're doing our own "science camp" using the Wonders of the Earth and Sky curriculum from Blossom and Root.  I've had this curriculum sitting around for a while, and was having trouble fitting it into our regular schedule, so I decided to do it all in one go. I'm not a huge fan of activities/experiments that require a lot of parent set-up, and the kids participate for just a few minutes, and there were quite a few of those types of activities in this curriculum. We are having a blast with it, but for our family, it works better to get it all done in a few weeks, rather than spread out through the year. I won't share all of the activities we did, as that's proprietary information, but I'll share a few of our favorites.

Here are the books we read:

Super Earth Encyclopedia
Nature Anatomy, by Julia Rothman
Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea: Marie Tharp Maps the Ocean Floor, by Robert Burleigh
How to Make a Mountain, by Amy Huntington
The Magic School Bus Blows its Top, by Joanna Cole
The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth, by Joanna Cole
National Geographic Kids Everything Rocks and Minerals, by Steve Tomacek
Everybody Needs a Rock, by Byrd Baylor
Rhoda's Rock Hunt, by Molly Beth Griffin
A Rock is Lively, but Dianna Hutts Aston
Water Land: Land and Water Forms around the World, by Christy Hale
In the Canyon, by Liz Garton Scanlon

We started off our science camp by learning about the layers of the earth, and recreating them with play dough.

We did a variety of experiments to learn about plate tectonics and land forms. Below, you can see Pumpkin pushing together pieces of fabric to create mountains.

The girls used play dough to make various land forms and bodies of water. Sweet Pea created a mountain, with a snowy owl on top for added cuteness. Pumpkin created mountains, a river, and a lake.

One of the girls' favorite experiments was creating various types of rock with crayons. Below, we have metamorphic, sedimentary, and igneous, from left to right.