All you need is a variety of snack crackers and inquiring minds. Provide facts and details that indicate a complete and thorough understanding of how plates move and how each plate boundary works. These plates ride on the hot plastic upper mantle called the asthenosphere. Plate movement directly affects the construction of earths surface because the land recycles and creates new crust by divergent plates. However, plate tectonics can be a difficult thing to visualize and this is one way to introduce the concept that is easy to see and lets students physically move the. Plate movements introduction the theory of plate tectonics states that the crust of the earth is composed of less than twenty separate plates that float on the hot plastic mantle of the inner earth. Lay the two pieces of graham crackers side by side on top of the frosting so they are touching. The theory also states that the motion of these plates. To help students understand while teaching earthquakes, we model plate tectonics with graham crackers and frosting colored red for that hot magma effect. Reuse the graham cracker used above for this activity. The theory of plate tectonics states that the crust of the earth is composed of 7 major plates and numerous smaller plates. Use only two of the pieces for part 3, saving the other two for part 4. The reality is that plate tectonics can be a dull subject for students who may not have a natural fascination for rocks. The icing represents the molten rock in the earths mantle and the graham crackers represent the tectonic plates.
Finally we used our last graham crackers to make a subduction zone what happens when a more dense oceanic plate is thrust under a less dense continental plate. For this activity, i grabbed a box of graham crackers, some cool whip, and a plate. Graham cracker plate tectonics earth science activities. As they finish, allow students to choose a type of boundary to imitate with their graham crackers and have their partner guess what type of boundary they are creating. Practice sorting, comparing, and classifying using properties of matter in this tasty experiment. What term is used to describe one plate moving beneath another. Our scope and sequence begins teaching plate tectonics in the elementary grades. Press down along these edges while pushing crackers away. The plates in this model are represented by fruit roll up oceanic crust which is thin and dense and graham crackers continental crust which is thick but less dense. Convergent places where plates crash or push together. This website gives instructions for teaching the movement of tectonic plates using graham crackers, which, at first glance, may seem geared more toward younger grades. Place one hand on each of the graham cracker pieces and push them together by applying. This quick and tasty kids science activity gives little scientists a hands on way to explore plate tectonics the movement of the earths crust that leads to the.
Draw what your food looks like after you created the transform boundary in the space provided 4. Move the crackers back and forth against each other. To represent the natural world by creating models and analyzing their limitations. Edible plate tectonics page 1 focus on inquiry the student will use food to model and observe the plate movement and consequences of plate movement associated with the theory of plate tectonics. Second grade lesson incredible edible earth changes. Once the graham crackers have touched each other, note how the marshmallow spreading is a different shape than it was at the start of the experiment.
Break the other whole graham cracker in half, and then break each half in half again so you have 4 pieces. Give each student a paper plate covered in frosting and several. Model the plates movements using frosting and graham crackers to. I provide each student with their own plates and together we work through the motions of pulling apart and pushing together to create divergent and convergent boundaries. The children will experience the grinding and clashing of the earths plates by using an incredible, edible model. This episode discusses the scientific theory of plate tectonics, in which the earths crust is subdivided into a series of large and small tectonic plates. The theory of plate tectonics states that the crust of the earth is composed of 16 major pieces or plates. Explain why the graham cracker and krispie treat represent the type of crust they do. Diverging continental plates graham crackers moving away from one. Give each pair of students one long graham cracker broken in half.
Youth use graham crackers and pudding to model tectonic plate movement. Take two pieces of dry crackers and place them side by side on the frosting. Listen to lecture, observe the teacher, individual reading, teacher demonstration. Place the graham crackers on opposite sides of the plate. Going for great active learning teaching ideas see more ideas about plate tectonics, earth science and teaching science. Give each kid two graham cracker halves and a plate covered in a thick smear of icing. It should be about the size of a whole graham cracker but twice as thick. Students will put the icing on wax paper and use the graham crackers as the plates. Throw into the mix the complexity of different types of. Graham cracker plate tectonics lesson plan for 7th 10th. The graham cracker represents the thicker but less dense continental plate, while the fruit roll represents the thin but dense oceanic plate. This plate tectonics lesson plan can easily be adapted for elementary, secondary, middle school, and university students. What happened to the frosting between the crackers. Slowly push the graham crackers towards each other.
Graham cracker tectonics by bryce hixson this lab is an introduction to the boundary zones between tectonic plates and how we currently believe they are formed. If you are low on cash, stick with procedure and skip the rice crispies. Would you like something changed or customized on this resource. Graham cracker plate tectonics lab just a little info the theory of plate tectonics states that the crust of the earth is composed of seven major plates and numerous smaller plates. Buy wax paper, knives, frosting, fruit rollups, and graham crackers. Instruct students to come up with some thoughts on how the graham crackers floating on top of the molasses is like plate tectonics sliding past, colliding into, and moving away from each other on top of. What happens to a real tectonic plate being subducted. The theory of plate tectonics states that the crust of the earth is composed of seven major plates and. First they will follow a given set of directions to explore the idea of plate tectonics. These plates ride on the hot plastic upper mantle known as the asthenosphere.
Plate boundary description landformsfeatures materials. Label drawing as to what each item represents in terms of earth layers or processes of plate tectonics. To understand how plate boundaries interact with each other and the features created as they drift atop the slow moving asthenosphere. To get a visual model of how plates move you could use graham crackers and icing. Teaching about plate tectonics with a science tradebook. Provide an example of a location where this type of boundary is found on earth. Exploring the movement of tectonic plates with smores. Handson activities for teaching landforms grade school. Have students slowly push the crackers together so. Learn about the different boundaries and how the earths crust works. What is the process that creates new ocean floor from diverging plates. This unit focuses primarily on plate tectonics and.
Students create a tasty model that illustrates plate tectonic motions. Each piece of graham cracker represents a continental plate. To study the interactions of the tectonic plates as they move slowly on the asthenosphere. Teaching plate tectonics a good lesson plan that demonstrates plate tectonics through easytodraw illustrations. Students participate in a jigsaw activity to learn about types of plate boundaries, becoming an expert in one of five global datasets earthquakes, volcanoes, seafloor age, topography, and gravity and then sharing their expertise to build connections between the different datasets. Questionanswer slides after steps to check for student understanding. Now lay a quarter of a whole graham cracker and the fruit roll end to end against each other on top of the frosting. These plates move on the top of the hot plastic upper mantle known as the asthenosphere. After learning about plate tectonics, students will model how plates move when a prompt is given. Google graham cracker plate tectonics lab for a variety of different versions used by schools across the country. Teaching plate tectonics with easytodraw illustrations.
The next time you teach plate tectonics, consider a drawwithme presentation that will engage your students and help them understand the spatial and movement aspects of plate boundary environments. Students will use shaving cream and graham crackers to simulate the three types of plate boundaries transform, divergent, and convergent. Plate movement directly affects the destruction of earths surface because the more dense plates sink causing a trench where the plates are thoroughly destroyed. What happens when the graham cracker and krispie bar meet. While our team makes every effort to complete change requests, we cant guarantee that.
This video walks through the gram cracker plate tectonics lab. Observe what is happening to the marshmallow spread. Elaborate on all learning through this experience and other class activities dealing with plate boundaries. We took two graham crackers and placed them on a plate with a bit of water. Graham cracker plate tectonics february 20, 2016 this website gives instructions for teaching the movement of tectonic plates using graham crackers, which, at first glance, may seem geared more toward younger grades. Tap some small holes in one and place them in the frosting on the plate. This theory also says that most of these plates are in motion, creating. To model the interactions of earths tectonic plates as they move about its surface. Though alfred wegener was the first to suggest the theory of continental drift and plate tectonics in 1915, it wasnt widely accepted until the 1960s and 1970s as new information was obtained about the nature of the ocean floor, earths magnetism, the distribution of volcanoes and.
Use the knife spread a thick layer of frosting in the center of the wax paper. However, the version i prefer includes the use of a rice crispy treat to illustrate oceanic vs. This graham cracker plate tectonics lesson plan is suitable for 7th 10th grade. Next, direct the kids to imitate different types of boundaries. The process of drawing a picture involves students much more deeply than reading or discussion. Provide the students with a copy of the plate tectonics cloze activity. This is another fun activity with a sweet treat reward at the end. My 5 year old instantly recognized this boundary as its what led to the formation of all the volcanic mountains that surround us. Teaching plate tectonics with graham crackers simplifies it so much, while making it fun to eat afterwards. Lay the two pieces of graham cracker side by side on top of the frosting so they are touching. Graham cracker plate tectonics playdough to plato teach kids about plate tectonics with graham crackers and cool whip. Plate boundaries are found at the edge of the plates. In this plate tectonics worksheet, students use graham crackers, frosting, water and a paper plate to simulate tectonic processes such as convergent, divergent and transforming plate boundaries.
Stepbystep powerpoint for both you and your students total of 7 steps, pictures of student expectations is included. By middle school they should be able to get into more in depth content that you are talking. Break one whole graham cracker into two square pieces by following the perforations on the cracker. Have students look over their plate tectonics chart to ensure they have completed each of the entries. Plan your 60minute lesson in science or earth systems and.
Remove the graham cracker from the frosting from part 1. The kids will move broken graham crackers on top of a frosted sheet of wax paper to create divergent, convergent, transform fault, and sub. Immediately remove the crackers and lay them end to end on the frosting with the wet edges nearly touching. Do i need to get enough graham crackers for a different platesetup for each different plate movement demonstration.
To identify and demonstrate the forces that shape the features of the earth 2. Plate tectonics graham cracker lab by science station tpt. Every ten seconds, push the graham crackers closer to each other. Divergent plate boundary instruct students to place the two squares of fruit roll up oceanic plates onto the frosting right next to each other. They will work in partners, one person will move the model graham crackers and cool whip and the other partner will diagram the events. This quick and tasty kids science activitygives little scientists a hands o teaching explore weather vocabulary with preschool and kindergarten students with this free printable weather board game from playdough to plato.
Before they became too soggy, ld and i pushed our crustal plates ie graham crackers together. Dip one end of each of the two graham crackers into a cup of water about 2 cm. I was recently searching up plate tectonics for a class, and came across a lesson with graham crackers. Spread a thick layer of frosting on the last quarter of your plate. Thirdgraders used graham crackers and icing to demonstrate movement of tectonic plates. I would like to use this as an introductory lesson when teaching plate boundaries and plate tectonics. The theory of plate tectonics provides geology with a comprehensive theory that explains how the earth works. Our earth science unit covers the solar system, the layers of the earth, plate tectonics. Learn how earths tectonic plates interact in this delicious activity.
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