Geology Project Ideas

Fantastic Fossilization! Discover the Conditions For Creating the Best Cast Fossils
Have you ever stood close to a fossilized T. rex skull and counted its razor-sharp teeth? Or, have you seen a fossilized stegosaurus skeleton and thought about how it defended itself with tail spikes and armored plates? A trip to a natural history museum letss you imagine what dinosaurs looked like and wonder what life with them on Earth was like. Fossils give us information about animals and plants that lived long ago. Certain places around… Read more

Jumping For Geodes: Can You Tell the Inside from the Outside?
Have you ever heard the expression, "You can't judge a book by its cover"? What do you think that means? That a book with a very plain cover might have a very exciting and interesting story inside? Well, in this geology science project, you'll see if the same expression holds true for a rock, but not just any old rock, a special type of rock called a geode, which looks rather plain and ordinary on the outside, but inside can hold crystals and… Read more

Soil Compaction
Have you ever had to dig a hole in really hard soil? It is a lot of work! In this science project you can make an instrument to test the soil and find out how compacted it is, before you dig! Read more

Porosity and Particle Size
Often, when we think of something that is solid we think about rocks. But in reality, rocks have tiny holes of air inside them. This is called porosity. In this science project you can find out what it means to be "solid as a rock!" Read more

Go with the Flow: Model Rivers with Cornmeal, Sand, & Water
Have you ever had fun playing with sand and water, observing how little rivers you create carve their way down to the lowest point of the sandbox, backyard or beach? Some meander, others braid, and some carve a path straight down. Hyrdologists (or scientists who study water) do very much the same thing! Only they set up the model in a particular way, so observing their mini-rivers helps them answer questions about how water flow affects the… Read more