Materials
Everybody Needs a Rock by Byrd Baylor
variety of rocks
magnifying glasses
permanent markers
paint
small paintbrushes and Q-tips
spray shellac
white or craft glue
wiggle eyes
Instructions
* Earth Science Week is the second week of October.
1. Read Everybody Needs a Rock to the children. Point out that the
illustrations by Peter Parnell have a Native American influence.
2. Bring in your own rocks, or invite children to bring a rock from home. If
there is an area with rocks near your school, take the children outside to
collect some.
3. Examine the rocks with the children. Encourage them to use magnifying
glasses. Touch them and talk about their textures. "Are they rough or
smooth?"
4. If desired, put rocks in a tub of water to bring out the colors of the rocks.
5. Let each child choose a rock to decorate.
6. Ask them to find the flatter side of their rocks. The flat side will be the
bottom or base of their new rock "friend." Put the child's name on this
bottom area.
7. Invite the children to paint and draw on their rocks.
8. When the children are not present, take the dry, painted rocks outside.
Place them on newspaper and spray with shellac. This prevents the paint
from washing off or rubbing off on the children. (If you do not want to
use shellac, have the children paint with acrylic craft paint rather than
tempera paint. But keep in mind that this paint may stain clothing.)
9. Let the children glue on wiggle eyes. Tell them their rock friends may
have more than two eyes, if they
desire! The children may
want to name their rocks.
More to do Books: Have other books
about rocks available for children
to look at.
Literacy: Encourage the children to draw
pictures of the rocks and dictate stories about them.
