One very popular homeschool science unit this year was our plate tectonics lesson for earth science (let’s see if you can guess why it was such a hit). I’ll give you a hint, afterward, there was much bath taking because of stickiness.
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Plate tectonics unit: graham cracker plates
Supplies: graham crackers*,
While the kids enjoyed eating the results of this activity, I don’t think they quite got it all together, mainly because I didn’t explain it well, but down at the bottom, I’ve linked to a couple of places that handled this activity better than I did.
(I’ve had two suggestions for making this work better in the comments: 1. use icing because the crackers don’t absorb as much liquid then, and 2. use shaving cream and balloons [great for warmer weather and doing it outside])
The idea is to let the kids use the graham crackers and the pudding to push them together to simulate different ways the continental plates hit each other. But, our graham crackers got soggy way too fast.
Instead, they had fun eating the pudding covered graham crackers, and generally threatening me with messy hands.
Plate tectonics unit: eggshell earth
This plate tectonics activity is what first started getting it through their head, this may have been one of the activities mentioned in CKE Earth and Space* but I’m not sure, and I’m too lazy to go find my book.
Supplies: hard boiled egg, and a hard surface
Once the egg has cooled down enough to touch, and this takes preparation AND remembering you have them. This is a hard thing for me, so I’d just like to point out I completed the activity and did not leave it half done.
Crush the eggshell, so it’s cracking, but not falling off. Then move the eggshell around carefully and you can see the pieces of the egg shell are rather like the tectonic plates. They move around and sometimes push another piece up or down, and sometimes it causes the piece to slide another way.
Plate tectonics unit: printable map
This I know came from the CKE Earth and Space*, and is probably what led to me buying the reproducible download so it was easier to print (and yes the reproducible download is on that same page, in case you’re wondering, it’s totally worth it).
Well, the kids sat there and cut out all of the different continental plates, and after cutting them all out I asked what observations they had, and here’s what they discovered:
- Some continental plates are huge, and some are little.
- Many of the continental plates are actually continents, but many aren’t. North America is made up of several plates.
- The plates split in unexpected places.
- California really could sink into the ocean. Okay that was my observation, but it is on a different tectonic plate than the rest of the country. But, we’d only lose part of the state.
It was quite an interesting experience
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Plate Tectonics unit resources
It’s sort of interesting to live so close to a major tectonic fault as we do. Apparently millions of people (including us) love risk 😀 Great unit – we just looked at Earth at different times in Natural History Museum in NYC.
Oh that would be interesting to see. I always find Natural History Museums interesting.
Very fun!! I think the chocolate pudding activity was a good way to get them interested even if it didn’t sink in until later!
It certainly got them interested.
It certainly got them interested, and a little messy. A win-win in their thinking.
I did the egg tectonics when we had a small earthquake.
Oh, that would work well too!
Poor California!!!
I know, it gets all the problems.
Oh I don’t know I studied plate tectonics as part of my A’level Geography (UK) and it was dull dull dull, I think if I’d done it this way I’d have remembered far more about it. Biscuits and chocolate are far more memorable even when the biscuits ‘melt’. Great teaching tool.
Thanks!
Great fun hand on learning! One day soon I will get round to doing some geology. Maybe.
There are a lot of fun geology activities you could do. Besides you’re going to start running into all sorts of geologists in your history studies soon.
I agree with you that California could fall in the ocean. Doesn’t make me love living here, but I try not to think about it. Somehow, it manages to be one of the most in-demand places to live in the world in spite of that.
These are all great learning activities!
While it could….. It’s still very unlikely 🙂
Weather, it’s the nice weather.
Thanks! I always debate on posts like this on whether or not to put it all into one post, or break it up into several smaller posts.
Use balloons filled with shaving and have them push against them to show how much force is needed to move plates. The balloons bulge and eventually pop. The kids love it.
That is a good idea!
Hi there!! Your graham cracker plate tectonics will work soooo much better with icing!! I am an earth science teacher and do this lab every year!
Best of luck
I’ll give that a try next time.
CA is not going to fall into the ocean. The Pacific Plate and the North American plate are moving past each other hoizontally (this is why you get slip/strike earthquakes along the San Andreas faultline). So if anything the trip from La to San Francisco is shorter…by about 46 mm/year.
I use cookie dough and bake a large cookie across strips of parchment paper then it can be pulled apart slid and pushed together while it is still hot