Thursday 22 December 2011

Semi Precious Rocks





Little-N has developed a huge interest in semi-precious rocks and gems.  He started to collect rocks and gems and I was amazed at how quick he was able to build a collection from little gifts from friends and family. We bought him these books and he has read them cover to cover.


Little-N used the books to identify his small collection of rocks. I came across this amazing precious rocks,  gems and minerals magazine collections which I bought him as a gift. Each fortnight Little-N receives a magazine with a rock or gem. The collection is brilliant, the stones are huge and the magazines are so informative. So far Little-N has received gold, amethyst, rose quartz, blue agate, desert rose, obsidian and geode.


He started to look into birthstones and was eager to identify everyone's birthstone. I made him these birthstone cards.



When Little-N gets interested in a subject he becomes totally obsessed. He sat and research each rock making what he calls 'fact files' about each rock. He drew picture after picture of different rocks. He started to talk about crystal shapes and taught himself the names of different mineral crystal shapes. I printed him a set of cut out crystal shapes that he could assemble himself. I also made him colour coded name cards so he can sort and name the shapes. This is how he set up his work:



My husband took Little-N to the natural history museum where he had the opportunity to see and identify many precious rocks and gems. 



Little-N's favorite precious stone is diamond, he asked if I could buy him some but I told him he'll have to wait till he's older. His next favorite is emerald and he is eagerly awaiting the emerald magazine that comes with his collection.

6 comments:

jojoebi-designs said...

ebi-kun has some semi-precious stone too but apart from look at them with a magnifying glass he hasn't been that interested, I think he needs a book to go along with it. Out of the three you showed, if you had to pick just one, which one would you buy?

N from the Learning Ark said...

Hi Jo,
I'd say get the third, it's brilliant and has so much information. How is ebi-kuns reading as it's not aimed at children, you can preview some of it on Amazon and see if it's suitable for him. Hope he enjoys it!

Sasha said...

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http://tothelesson.blogspot.com/2011/12/liebster-blog-award.html

Thanks for sharing,
Sasha

Deanna Caswell said...

I really want those birthstone cards! My daughter is obsessed with birthstones. I checked your store. Are they there and I missed them?

jojoebi-designs said...

thank you! Ebi-kuns reading level is very high, I don't think he would have a problem apart from coming across new words.

Have you watched the ninjago movies on the lego site?

Cherine Muirhead said...

I love visiting your blog...just what I was looking for:)) Thank you!!