Yes, we love rocks and want your family to fall in love with them too! We have already shared with you how we created a homemade rock kit and now want to give you tips for starting your own rock collection. I’m going to list the essentials for a basic rock collection.
1. Collect rocks & minerals– I would allow your little rock hound to collect rocks from your yard, your neighborhood, while on vacation or while visiting family. Keep a small cloth bag, bucket, or ziploc bag handy for all those incredible finds. You can also add Fossil’s if you’d like.
2. Wash rocks & minerals– Grab a small pail and on old toothbrush. Set up a rock washing station for your child to clean the new rocks that have been collected. Be sure to remove any soft stones like sandstone quickly BEFORE it dissolves.
3. Sort & Identify collection– This may be a little tricky. We personally are enlisting a local rock expert from a gem and mineral club to help us. You could also do some tests like GeoMan’s Mineral ID Tests to determine roughly what types of rocks you have.
4. Record findings– There are many ways to record your findings. You could use a sheet of paper, a mini composition notebook or index cards. For the serious collector you would number your rock in a permanent manner (probably permanent marker) then create an index card filled with information related to that rock.
I would include location found, size, weight, rock type, color and texture description. Of course you can get as detailed as you want or keep it simple. Maybe you will only write on the “plain” rocks found from various trips as a memory rock.
5. Store your collection– We store our rock collections in various containers like the Plano Stowaway Box
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I am always finding rocks in my pockets the boys have discovered. We will have to try this. Thank you for linking up to #ablogginggoodtime 🎉