The Lunar and Planetary Institute has done it again! They have developed another delicious educational experience to share with libraries and educators – Edible Rocks.
Who would want to try to eat a rock? Just about everyone, when the “rocks” are chocolate bars, “Three Musketeers” (the candy, not the book or movie), “Nestle Crunch,” and chocolate covered granola bars.
In this activity, children learn and use terms that geologists use when studying and describing meteorites, except they will be using the terms to describe candy bars. They also get the opportunity to draw their observations and write descriptions of what they see as they explore the interiors of their favorite candy bars, just like scientists.
This is just one of the activities that they are offering in conjunction with their newest travelling exhibit available for libraries to borrow: Meteorites: Messengers of Mayhem.
Here is detailed information about the program, including details on how to do the program, a vocabulary list, and shopping list, a printable “field notes” sheet for participants to use, images, supportive videos and website links. Even if you don’t host the actual exhibit, the program would be a great one for school-aged children and/or family programming, and the whole thing is already laid out for you.
For information on the various exhibits and how to borrow them, go here.
Here are some other resources and information about meteors and programming ideas offered by L&PI:
Web Resources for Meteorites: Messengers of Mayhem
Programming Ideas for Meteorites: Messengers of Mayhem
If you have a great time with the edible rocks, you may want try the edible asteroids, as well. They are slightly healthier than the rocks. Then you could discuss the differences between meteors and asteroids, the real ones, that is.
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