Reuniting Kids w/ Nature - Soil Search

Source

Source

MATERIALS:
Dirt (no need to be picky, just gather some up with a shovel or a bucket), 2-4 pieces of screen with different sized weaves (holes) or a kitchen sieve, Tupperware, bowls or other containers to separate your dirt into.

TIME FRAME: 
30 - 60 minutes


PROCEDURE:

1. Gather your dirt.
2. Place the screen with the largest weave above one of your containers and carefully sift your dirt through it.
3. Set aside anything that would not fit through the holes in the screen.
4. Set aside a little bit of the materials (dirt) that did filter through the screen.
5. Using the next screen with smaller weave, repeat steps 2-4.
6. Continue repeating the above steps until you have used all of your screen sizes and have several containers with all of the dirt and materials you have separated.

REFLECTION: 
How many different bowls of materials were you able to separate?  What surprised you about what you found in the soil?  What were the differences in the samples?  What were the similarities?

CONNECTIONS: 

Did you know that soil is made up of organic matter, minerals and nutrients formed by rocks and decaying plants and animals?  Or that roots help to hold soil together to prevent erosion?  Or that between five and 10 tons of animal life (bugs and micro organisms) can live in one single acre of soil?!

TIPS & IMAGININGS: 

Take a rock in your hand and just hold it for a few minutes… feel how hard it is, how heavy it is. Now imagine how long it might take to turn that rock into a million smaller pieces, like the soil you just separated.  Now think about how powerful nature and time are!

This activity is part of a series of low cost, hands on activities that can be used by anyone who has a passion for nature and who believes that a child's time spent in nature is not only important, but necessary.  Each activity was either created by me or gathered from a variety of sources.  You can find the complete list of all of the activities on my Nature Activities tab.

xoxo,

M

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