A Mom and a Family of Men!

Saturday, May 01, 2010

Eli Made Crystals!

This Geology unit has been so fun!


Elijah made two types of crystals for this one. He made salt and alum crystals. We set everything up that first day.


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We waited about two days...


Salt:
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Alum:
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And then a week or more went by and we decided it was done.


Salt:
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Alum:
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Alum made the biggest crystals of the two.


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Then it was time for inspection this evening.


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They were getting the microscope out when I came to blog our fun. And I can hear OOOOOO's and AHHHHHH's coming from the kitchen. And just now Eli ran up to me to show me a drawing he has done of the structure of both. HA HA HA! I love these boys!


We learned through this that minerals will often form crystals. And that crystals are smooth, flat surfaces that meet in sharp edges and corners. We even learned of gems.


This was so good for Eli he is always picking up rocks or buying them or reading about them. :) Glad we did this one.

7 comments:

Catherine Anne said...

How fun!!! Love this post~

Jolene (South Africa) said...

That is so cool!!!

Julie said...

So great!! Wow...you've inspired me to do this with my son. He is so mesmerized with gems and naturally formed precious stones. I think he would love this!

Rhonda said...

The Alum crystal is my favorite. I always love the look on your boys faces when they are learning. They are so involved in all that they do.

Julia said...

How fun! I love it!

Heather the Mama Duk said...

Crystal growing is so fun!

Phyllis said...

So cool! Your crystals are beautiful. It is so neat that they are so into it!
-Phyllis