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Why
not know your local rocks?
The Kids Rock! game was conceived in response to a simple question. Why shouldnÕt everyone who can tell a
pine tree from an oak, or a cardinal from a bluejay, also
recognize the most common local rocks and
minerals – those that are likely to turn up in his or her own
neighborhood?
Dr. Bill Witherspoon,
co-author of Roadside Geology of Georgia,
introduced the game at the Atlanta Science Festival in 2014. He found that anyone old enough to read
was able to correctly place the numbered stones on their squares in what is now
the learning game, and even younger children
could do so when descriptions were read to them.
Practice recognizing the four
rocks and one mineral by flipping the game board over for the say and slide game. Then see if you can name each
stone without reading the names from the board. If you can, you are ready for
the advanced game with mystery stone.
which
rocks are local?
Just as the plants and
animals are different at the mountains or the beach, different types of rock
have formed in different areas.
In Atlanta, the local rocks
assumed their present form under great heat and pressure, after tectonic plates
buried them more than seven miles underground. This happened when continents
collided about 300 million years ago to make the supercontinent Pangaea. As
Pangaea pulled apart, forming the Atlantic Ocean, erosion was able to uncover
the rocks. Similar rocks are exposed from Alabama, along the Appalachian trend
all the way to Canada, as seen on this map.
The Piedmont edition rocks,
gneiss, schist, and amphibolite are high-grade metamorphic rocks –
changed from other rocks at temperatures and pressures that allowed the rocks
to flow like taffy without actually melting. The granite in the same edition is
an intrusive igneous rock, meaning it formed as magma cooled slowly, deep below
the surface. The mineral, quartz, formed in veins among the metamorphic
rocks, from silica dissolved in superheated water, much as salt crystals remain
when seawater evaporates.
learning game
Put all the stones on
Start. Move each stone to the box
where it is described. SAY the name of the rock or mineral. The numbered tags
wonÕt help, because the stones are not in number order.
When you are done, check the
numbers against the Tag# column on your identification
sheet.
say and slide game
Use the back
side of the playing board. Place all five stones NUMBER SIDE DOWN on
Other. SAY each name as you SLIDE each stone to its place. DONÕT PEEK at the
number tags yet! When all five stones are on their squares, turn them over and
check the numbers.
If the numbers do not all
match, just slide all the rocks back to the Other square and try again.
To finish the say and slide
game, see if you can name all the rocks without looking at their names on the
board.
advanced game with mystery stone
Return the five numbered
stones to their plastic bag. Use the back side of the
playing board. Place the ten unnumbered stones on their squares. There should
be EXACTLY two stones on each square.
The Other square
is for two stones that donÕt match any square. One is not a rock or mineral – it
is human-made, such as a piece of asphalt pavement or concrete. The other is
your MYSTERY STONE.
Use the table on your sheet
to identify your mystery stone. To check whether you identified it
correctly, look for its first letter(s) handwritten on the bottom of the rock
container.
identification sheet
Each edition includes a
sheet with a table for identifying the five numbered stones. The tag number
column in the table lets you check your answers. On the flip side of the sheet
is the table for the other common rocks or minerals you might find in your
neighborhood. One of these will be the mystery stone in the unnumbered set.
You can download a copy of
the identification sheet for your Kids Rock edition below. Feel free to share
the link and make copies for your friends. This will help anyone recognize the
rocks in your area.
Piedmont edition (map- inside purple line)
Other editions NOW AVAILABLE:
Coastal Plain edition (map- south of blue line)
Blue Ridge West edition (map- inside green line)
Valley Interior edition (map- north of yellow line)
earning Kids Rock!
Although Kids Rock! sets are no longer sold, the first ten members of the Great Outcrop Hunt can receive a set for free.