Igneous Rock Experiment

 I have to be honest, I have tried to create recycled crayons every year for the past 3 years. I’m not sure what happens, but we start to peel the paper from the crayons and then we don’t get any further. But this time we actually finished the project, because we partnered it with the Igneous rock lesson in The Good and the Beautiful Geology curriculum. 

When molten rock is in the Earth it’s called magma but once it reaches the Earth’s crust it becomes lava. They loved the thought of molten rock churning and oozing below their feet. Maybe it’s the game “Hot Lava” that they play all time that has endeared them to volcanoes and lava. Whatever the drive, they are all in when it comes to exploring this topic.

Melting and cooling these crayons gave the kids the perfect object lesson for how igneous rocks form.  These “new” crayons work just as well as the originals and the new colors are unique to our home, which makes them seem somewhat magical.

Since my son is in the second plane, I’ve tried my best to setup multiple experiments each week. It doesn’t always happen, but this experiment took a few days to complete, so my son stayed engaged because he was committed to seeing the finished product. Geology has been a fascinating study so far and we’ll see where it goes next.