Geology Rocks! Holiday Camp Nov. 3, 2017

Camp on November 3rd was all about rocks! Campers turned into geologists and explored the rock cycle, what happens to rocks over time, how the South Platte affects rocks, and learned about some of Colorado's own cool rocks. 
First, we started the day with geology basics. We discussed the rock cycle and learned about the three types of rocks: igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary. Then, we played a game and acted out all of the different steps and processes in the rock cycle. 
Next, we went down to the river and collected some small rocks and pebbles. We then put them in a cup and layered in some glue- and made our own sedimentary river rocks!
Our next activity we focused on some Colorado rocks. We started by looking at a cool rock collection and seeing if we could identify the types of rocks. There was amazonite, pyrite, obsidian, granite, quartz, and more! Then we took our geology skills back outside and had a scavenger hunt looking for many different types of rocks in the park and along the river. 

In the next activity block, we learned more about what happens to rocks over time. We played a game to help us learn about weathering (breaking down of rocks), erosion (moving sediment to a new place), and deposition (placing sediment to create new land forms). Then, we went back to the river and investigated the rocks there through a new scientific lens. We analyzed the rocks to look for signs of weathering, erosion, and deposition. It's cool to see how the river smooths all of those rocks over time!
We reviewed all of our geology terms with another game, as well as making a "fortune teller" with all of our vocabulary words inside!

Once the day warmed up, we headed down to the South Platte for critter crawl and exploring. We caught many macroinvetebrates and 14 crawdads!