And now for something completely different - such is the scope of Earthlearningideas. 'How many sand grains are there in a bucket – or on a beach? - planning activities to estimate the number of sand grains in a bucket – or on a beach'.

More Earthlearningideas involving some maths can be found in our Cross Category topics - Maths in ELIs

   

Last week, we published 'Make your own bricks'. Today we have, 'Make your own soil; investigating the type and origin of the ingredients of soil'.

This activity can be used in any lesson about the environment, rocks and landscape, agriculture, gardening or investigations out of doors.

Go to ELI Early years for related activities.

   

Our new ELI this month is an addition to our ELI Early years activities 'Mud, Mud, glorious mud*; make your own bricks'.

This activity involves carefully measuring ingredients to make a pliable mud. The mud is then baked in the sun or in an oven to make bricks. The bricks can then be painted and/or used to make structures.

Related activities can be found in Engineering and Industrial geology in our Earth Materials category, or you can search for our 'Make your own . . .' series.

* from Flanders and Swan ‘The Hippopotamus Song’

   

Today, we are continuing to look at building stones with 'Building Stones 3 – Sedimentary rocks; how do the sedimentary rocks used for building stones differ?'.

A small group activity using photographs of sedimentary rocks used as building stones or for ornamental purposes. This activity follows ‘Building Stones 1’ and is intended for pupils to deepen their understanding of sedimentary rocks. A table showing how the series of Earthlearningidea building stone activities link together is given on the final page.

Related activities can be found in our Earth Materials category - Rocks.

   

Have you ever wondered about all the beautiful building stones you see when you walk round most towns and cities? Try this ELI - 'Building Stones 1– a resource for several Earthlearningidea activities; use a key to identify many different attractive-looking rocks'.

A small group activity in the identification of a wide range of rock types, using natural-scale photographs of rocks used as building stones or for ornamental purposes. The sheets of photographs are intended for use as the basis for several further activities.

Related activities can be found in our Rocks section of the Earth Materials category.