Let’s Rock! project #1

YOU MAY CLICK ON ANY PHOTO TO SEE IT UP CLOSE!

Rocks have always been an interest for me. My career goal in Jr.High was to be a geologist. Have you ever really looked at them?

The shapes are interesting. I began playing with rock shapes when I started photography. I used them to create characters and taught my granddaughter shapes.

This project takes only time, paper , crayons and imagination.

The first part is collecting assorted shaped stones. I tell the kids to pick tiny ones ,as well as,some the size of an ATM card. (I would have said half dollar but I wasn’t sure they had seen one 🙂 ) Also tell them to pick up some twigs or acorns to embellish their artwork.

The second stage is to lay out their rocks on an outdoor table and to create creatures. Rocks are much more fun than blocks! The shapes hold infinite possibilities!

Next they can choose a theme. “Under water scene”, “Rock Concert”,and “At the zoo” are  good suggestions. Taking a large piece of paper(could be a paper bag cut open) , they then create a background with their theme in mind. My granddaughter decided to use a blue rubbing as her background and went on to create a sea turtle .  She came over as I was taking photos for this project and took over! It kept her attention for about 45 minutes.

The really fun stuff happens next. Leave the kids to create their scene! Older kids could do all the steps on their own once you describe the idea.

You may want to take some rock books out from the library before you offer this project. Once the kids notice all the differences among the rocks, they’ll want to know more! They just may have extraordinary finds to explore like the fossils that were uncovered in our gather!

The extended activities could be photographing their scenes and creating a story with their artwork as the illustration. The sky is the limit! I’m sure they’ll come up with interesting adaptations on their own!