Explore Rocks and Minerals!: 25 Great Projects, Activities, Experiements

Explore Your World

by Cynthia Light Brown, Bryan Stone (Illustrator)

Highlighting the mysteries beneath the earth’s surface, this is the ideal kids’ companion to the fascinating subject of geology. Through an engaging array of hands-on activities, this helpful handbook guides children through testing minerals, creating crystals, sculpting edible models of the planet, and even baking volcanic meringue cookies. Exploring the reasons behind the physical changes of the world, this examination also outlines the rock cycle of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks; the process of discovering fossils and what they reveal about the past; and how to start a collection of natural artifacts. Featuring 25 entertaining experiments with lively illustrations and fun facts, this intriguing guide also includes educational sidebars detailing significant contributors to the field of geology.

Genres: Science

96 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2010

About the author

Cynthia Light Brown is the author of multiple non-fiction books for children, among them, Amazing Kitchen Chemistry Projects You Can Build Yourself , Explore Fossils!: 25 Great Projects, and Explore Rocks and Minerals!: 25 Great Projects, Activities, Experiments, all from Nomad Press. Her books are consistently ranked in Amazon's top 100 in their category and have received multiple 5-star reviews.

Cynthia holds a Master’s degree in Earth and Planetary Science from the University of New Mexico and a Bachelor's degree in Geology from Williams College. She's worked for twenty-five years as an environmental consultant specializing in pollution prevention, toxicology, and risk assessment. She lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with her husband, any of their three children who happen to be visiting, their adorable cat, Mika, and about 70,000 bees.

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

As soon as I opened this book, I knew I would skip it because there was simply too much text and information for my kindergartener. It contains projects, activities, and experiments, but they would be better suited for older kids.

[Chrissy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Explore Rocks and Minerals! has 20 great projects, activities and experiments. I was happy to get this book for review it sure will come in handy for my middle daughter this year. She is in Jr. High and her school requires them to do a Science Fair project for a grade and this is going to be perfect. Another reason why I was so happy to get to review this is that she loves fossils, rocks and minerals and I thought this would be a great book for her.

My daughter and I really enjoyed this book. It was packed full of information and experiments that were simple enough to do. We went threw the entire book and there wasn't a page in it that wasn't packed full of educational information. This book is geared towards 6 - 9 aged children but my daughter who is 12 found this book very helpful for her age group as well.

Her science fair is in October this year and she picked out a project to do from this book. She is going to be doing "Make your own Stalactites" from Explore Rocks and Minerals. With these easy step by step instructions this is going to be a fun Science fair project. She will only need a few items to do this project (2 glasses or cups, Hot tap water, Epsom salts, cotton or wool string, 4 paper clips and a dish).

I defiantly think this book is worth every penny.... The educational value in this book is wonderful and this book will be enjoyed by everyone not just little kids. I sure was fascinated by everything in this book. This book got an easy 5 star rating from my household. It is a very educational and fun book to have.

* I have been provided a complimentary copy of Explore Rocks And Minerals! for review threw an opportunity from Nomad Press. By receiving a complimentary copy it in no way obligates me to write a good or bad review. I am an honest reviewer and my reviews are based on my own opinion and only written by me.*

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This text is packed full of information and science experiments that is fun and enjoyable to learn with. Unfortunately the text is black and white making the read of the text a little boring. However the content of the text makes up the character of the book.