We had so much fun with our R is for Rocks theme! You can see how we combined our activities into a full week of learning for home preschool or preschool classrooms in our rock theme lesson plan set. I love when themes take something that kids see in their everyday lives and allow them to explore the material in different ways. I can’t wait to share some of our activities with you soon.
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Before I do, I wanted to share a collection of some playful ways to teach young kids about rocks. These are some activities available around the web, and they are mainly focused on teaching kids ages 2-6 about rocks in a hands-on way.
Rock Collection Ideas
The Rock Collection (Inspiration Laboratories)
Rock Collection Fun and Washing Rocks (In Lieu of Preschool)
Sensory and Fine Motor Activities
Fine Motor Practice with Rocks (Connecting Family & Seoul)
Hunting for Diamonds in a Rock Sensory Bin (The Pleasantest Thing)
Make a “Rock” Band (Fantastic Fun and Learning)
Learning About the Types of Rocks
Use Crayons to Mimic How Different Rocks are Formed (Momma Owl’s Lab)
Make Different Foods to Illustrate the Different Types of Rocks (Preschool Scientist)
Kindergarten Science Unit on Rocks (Kindergarten Kindergarten)
Rock Demo Science Investigation (Fantastic Fun and Learning)
Learning Activities
Letter Stones (Buggy and Buddy)
Alpha Rocks Using Rub-On Letters (The Write Start)
ABC Rock Fun (Parent Teach Play)
Rock Memory Game (Spell Out Loud)
Free Printable Pet Rock Writing (Fantastic Fun and Learning)
Counting Rocks Sensory Bin (Connecting Family & Seoul)
Make Story Stones (Teach Preschool)
Using Rocks and Minerals as Inspiration to Read and Write (This Reading Mama for Steve Spangler Science)
Make a Rock Science Experiment (Fantastic Fun and Learning)-See video tutorial below.
Learn about Inuit Inukshuks and Make Your Own Inukshuk (Kid World Citizen)
Art Activities
Garden Treasure Hunt with Painted Rocks (One Perfect Day)
Easy Rock Mosaic (Motherhood on a Dime)
Easy Stone Craft Towers (Inspiration Laboratories)
Painting with Rocks BIG Art (Fantastic Fun and Learning)
ConstellationArt (Creekside Learning)
Rock Rumble-Shake Painting with Rocks (Not Just Cute)
Tumble Painting with Rocks (Motherhood on a Dime)
Pictured Rock Inspired Paintings (Child Central Station)
Paint a Worry Stone (JDaniel4’s Mom)
Create Rock Pets (2 Big, 2 Little)
Make Rock Creatures (Little Moments)
Ladybug Rock Craft (Learn Create Love)
Cooking with Kids
Make Stone Soup with Your Kids (Motherhood on a Dime)
The next post in this series will include some of my preschoolers’ favorite books about rocks. While you are waiting for that post, go ahead and start collecting some rocks! Anything will do…nothing fancy. We’re going to be putting those rocks to good use soon. And don’t forget to let your kids give their rock collection a good wash. This was an activity my kids went back to over and over again during our rock theme!
Do you have any other ideas or activities related to rocks? I would love for you to share them in the comments.
Find more rock ideas on my Letter R Pinterest Board.
Get a full week of playful rock theme ideas!
Save time and get right to the playful learning with our printable lesson plan sets. Each set includes over 30 playful learning activities related to the theme, and we’ve provided different versions for home preschool families and classroom teachers so all activities are geared directly toward your needs.
Get Your Copy
Home Preschool Rocks Theme Lesson Plans
Preschool Classroom Rocks Theme Lesson Plans
GET CREATIVE LEARNING IDEAS!
mandy
I used sandstone rocks and let the kids rub them on the rough gourds. I also love, this Geode looks like cauliflower.
Shaunna Evans
Interesting!
Mum of One
How brilliant! We have been having fun with alphabet rocks and there are some brilliant ideas here we can try, thank you 🙂
Shaunna
Thanks! I hope you enjoy using some of the ideas!
Allison
We are right in the middle of a rock unit for my son’s kindergarten lessons. We’ve done several of these things, and I’m excited to see many new ideas! Thanks for sharing. I’m featuring this on The Sunday Showcase.
Shaunna
Thanks so much for featuring this list. I’m glad the timing is helpful, too! You might also enjoy some of the other rock ideas we have coming soon.
Karyn
I love this round-up of ideas! Thanks for sharing at Share It Saturday!!
Shaunna
Thanks! I enjoying researching for this list…lots of neat ideas!
Ticia
What a great list of resources! I like the crayon rocks, it’s a great idea.
Shaunna
I thought it was a fun list to put together…definitely love the crayon rock idea, too!
JDaniel4's Mom
What wonderful collection of ideas! JDaniel loves playing and learning with rocks.
Shaunna
Thanks! I don’t think JDaniel is alone…rocks seem to have a universal appeal around here, too!
Beth
What a great round-up! So many clever and fun ways to learn and play with rocks! LOVE it!
I am featuring this at TGIF today here – http://www.123homeschool4me.com/2013/03/tgif-linky-party-67.html. Thanks for linking up and sharing your creativity with the rest of us! Feel free to grab a NEW featured button.
Have a GREAT weekend,
Beth =-)
Shaunna
Thanks so much for featuring this round-up! I’ll be sure to grab the new button…love your new look!
Nicole
Wow! So many fun activities! Thanks for this awesome list!
Shaunna
I’m so glad you liked them. I hope you are able to use some of them in your classroom.
iGameMom
Thanks for sharing. It is a wonderful resource. The crayon rock experiments brings the boring science concepts to toddler level, amazing. I started host Mom’s library linky with True Aim. I am going to feature this on iGameMom.com on Wednesday, and on my Pinterest Kids Science Activity board (http://ow.ly/iHdep). Thanks again for putting together the list of activities.
Shaunna
I thought the crayon rock experiments were very creative, too. I look forward to checking out your features on Wednesday, and I appreciate you adding this post to your Pinterest Board…you’ve got some great activities there.
stacie
Love this list! Thanks so much for including me! 🙂
Shaunna
Thanks for sharing your ideas!
Julie
You have tons of creative ideas. I like the crayon rocks. We read the book Rocks in His Head by Carol Hurst. It’s a cute children’s book about a man who ends up working at a museum during the Great Depression.
Shaunna
I hadn’t heard of that book before, but I just read a little about it. I’ll have to remember it next time we are learning about rocks. Thanks for the suggestion!
Reshama
Love those rock collections. DD is always looking around for interesting rocks, I must show this post to her:) thanks for sharing
-Reshama
http://www.stackingbooks.com
Shaunna
Thanks! My girls are little rock collectors, too. We really enjoyed this theme. I hope you and DD can try out some of the activities.
Claire
I’ve pinned this. It’ll be so useful for our geology studies!
Shaunna
Thanks! I hope the ideas will help you incorporate some things all of your kids might enjoy learning together. There’s more coming in the series, too.
Valerie
Wow! This is an impressive round-up. I will have to come back and check every link! LOL I remember loving rocks as a child and although I’ve included them a few times while teaching my son, I am always looking for more ideas and it looks like there are TONS out there! Thanks for sharing.
Shaunna
Thanks! I enjoyed putting it together…so much great inspiration! I love building our play and learning activities on themes the kids are naturally interested in. And when the items come from nature it also makes our activities inexpensive or free which is another bonus! Hope you’ll come back to check out the rest of this series throughout the month.
Jessica @ Play Trains!
This is a wonderful list…thank you! Pinning it to my Preschool Science board.
Shaunna
Thanks! Hope you get to try out some of the activities soon.
Carolyn @ Pleasantest Thing
I also wanted to add – thank you for sharing my post. 🙂
Carolyn @ Pleasantest Thing
I love this collection. You’ve shared so many great ideas, and I really like that you’ve covered so many ways to play- art, cooking, fine motor, sensory…you’ve got it all! 🙂 I’m pinning it.
Shaunna
Thanks! I know my oldest daughter would love to hunt for diamonds like you did in your activity! Thanks for sharing your idea 🙂
Stephanie
This post…ROCKS! Great roundup of rock ideas! Pinning for sure!
Shaunna
🙂 Thanks! I’m glad you like it, and I appreciate you pinning it.
Ness @ One Perfect Day
What a brilliant round up of ideas Shaunna! Thank you for including our garden treasure hunt with painted rocks. I can’t wait to try some of the other ideas here. I’ve pinned this to my “Exploring Our World” board on Pinterest.
Shaunna
Thanks so much for allowing me to share your idea. It definitely makes me wish I had a garden, but I think we can still incorporate the concept into our play. I think you’ll like the other activities that we have coming throughout the month of March!
Becky
This is such a great list!:) I will bookmark it and pin it for this summer!!! 🙂
Shaunna
Thanks so much. I loved how your activity incorporated history and art! We’ll have even more ideas for you to pin throughout the month of March.