ó      Plastic Wrap

ó      Clay

ó     Water

ó      Notebook

ó      Camera (optional)

Step 1:  Take the water and wet the clay.  Work the water into the clay with your hands until soft and moist.

Step 2:  Divide the clay into two equal pieces and roll it into a ball, square or any other shape you like.

Step 3:  Wrap each piece of clay in plastic wrap.

Step 4:  Place one piece of clay into the freezer and leave the other piece on your table or counter.  Let the clay stay in the freezer overnight.

Step 5:  The next day, take the clay out of the freezer and unwrap both pieces. 

Observe:

Do the clay pieces look different?  If so, how?  Hint:  the clay from the freezer should have the some cracks.  Examine the clay with a hand magnifier to get a closer look at the cracks.  Write about your findings in a notebook and take pictures if you want.

Then, wrap each clay piece back up and put the one piece back into the freezer and repeat for several days.  Observe the clay pieces each day and see how the cracks change over time.  You are now a true Mini Me Geologist!

• Clean Jar
• String (we prefer cotton)
• Scissors
• Tape (optional)
• Pencil
• 1-2 Cups boiling water (kids, get your parents help)
• 1-2 Cups table salt
• Notebook
• Camera (optional)

Step 1:  Boil the water and then transfer it to your clean jar.

Step 2:  Pour in enough salt to saturate the water.  Stir until all of the salt that can dissolve is dissolved.  If you see salt crystals in the bottom of your jar that will not dissolve then you have probably saturated your water and are ready for Step 3.

Step 3:  Tie a piece of string to a pencil and hang the string in the water.  Rest the pencil across the top of your jar and tape it in place if necessary.  Make sure that the string does not touch any of the salt at the bottom of the jar.

Step 4:  Leave the string in place over night.

Observe:

The next day, take the string out of the jar and observe if salt crystals have formed on the string.  Salt crystals may take some time to get large so if you want to grow large crystals, replace the salt water solution daily.  Don’t forget to document your experiment.   We would love to see photos of your crystals.  You are now a true Mini Me Geologist!

For more experiment and project ideas as well as word finds and cross word puzzles, check out the Dig Into Geology section of our website.