Rock & Gem Unit (Ages 2.5+)

Children’s imagination and enthusiasm are unfettered in a natural environment. For them, nature is a complete sensory experience—a medium through which they encounter freedom, wisdom, and magic.

“Early experiences with the natural world have been positively linked with the development of imagination and the sense of wonder. Wonder is important as it a motivator for life-long learning.” – Randy White & Vicki Stoecklin from the White Hutchinson Leisure & Learning Group

Dakota and I have been going on walks every day and she loves stopping every few seconds to smell flowers and collect rocks. Children are naturally attracted to rocks and gemstones because they’re composed of varying shapes, colors, and textures. Each gem gives their very own feeling with spellbinding energies that children can experience within their fingertips.

Dakota was introduced to my crystal collection during infancy and it’s no surprise that she has become quite the rock collector herself. Her growing interest in earth’s treasures inspired me to organize this lesson.

Do you want to help your little gemologist discover the unending diversity in their own backyard, too? Then, try this exciting rock and gem unit!

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Sensorial

Gem Hunting: Glitter Mountain is nestled along the Arizona border and is only a 25-minute drive from where we live in Saint George, Utah. You can find a mound of gypsum glittering beneath the sunlight. Since this is an active mining claim, I let Dakota to fill her bucket with as many gems as she wanted and asked her to dump it back out when she was done. She only kept a couple small pieces that she found on the outside of the pit.

Don’t worry if you don’t live in the area. There are many places in the nation where you can go gem hunting, so just do some research! When we lived in Southern California, we went to the Himalaya Tourmaline Mine in Santa Ysabel, CA.

Cleaning Rocks: This is such an easy activity that kept Dakota entertained for an hour! All you need to do is have your child collect some rocks. Then, put a toothbrush, sponge, and soapy water inside a bin and let them clean their specimens.

Science

DIY Rock Candy: After three failed attempts at this experiment using different recipes, I finally found a thorough guide from In The Kitchen With Matt that actually worked.

Please make sure you read the instructions carefully! Matt doesn’t mention this in the directions, but I placed a paper towel on each jar to keep unwanted bugs away from the solution.

Also, there isn’t a natural option for this project because white sugar yields the best results. We used natural food coloring though.

The longer you let them grow, the bigger the crystals will get. We were tired of waiting (since we had already tried making them three times), so we took them out of the jar on the third day. We made three candies, but only two were viable. Unfortunately, the yellow one had sugar crystals growing on the bottom of the jar and the stick got stuck.

So what’s the science behind this experiment? First, you coat sugar on the sticks to create “seed” molecules—this is what the sugar crystals will grow on. Then, you make a saturated solution by combining a 1:3 ratio of water and sugar. Some sugar settles at the bottom of the pan because there’s too much sugar that the water can’t dissolve. Once you boil the solution, it heats up and is able to dissolve more sugar, resulting in a super saturated solution.

After the solution cools for 20 minutes, you insert the sugar-coated sticks. The sugar molecules from the solution attach to the seed molecules on the sticks.

As the jars sit for a few days, the water in the solution evaporates and leaves only sugar molecules behind. More sugar molecules join the ones on the stick and form larger crystals. Since all of the solute molecules are sugar, they form the same shape, stick together, and form a big chunk of sugar crystals.

Gem Kit: This activity kit comes with over 200 pieces of crystals, gemstones, shark teeth, arrowheads, and geodes. It also includes an identification chart that makes for a fun matching game. Pair this kit with a wooden magnifying glass for close-up exploration.

Fine Motor

Rock Tracing: Tracing can help your child practice the skills needed for writing. Teach slowly and be patient if this is a new concept for your child, like it was for mine.