Rocks Teaching Resources

Browse printable worksheets and digital activities for teaching about rocks, how they're formed, their properties and more common themes from this Earth science topic.

This teacher-created collection of elementary school resources is aligned to the NGSS curriculum and has undergone careful review by the expert teachers on our teacher team to ensure each resource is classroom-ready. That means you save important lesson-planning time!

New to teaching about rocks, or just looking for some fresh ways to engage your students on the topics? Read on for a primer from our teacher team!

What Are Rocks? A Kid-Friendly Definition

Trying to explain what a rock is — and how it differs from soil and other natural materials? Try this definition for kids from our teacher team!

Rocks are solid materials that make up the Earth's crust and can be found all across the globe — on land and in water. Made up of different minerals, they vary in color, size, shape and texture.

Rocks are important because they provide clues about the history of the Earth, and they can be used for things like construction, fuel and decoration.

Types of Rocks

There are three main types of rocks that students will need to learn about in science class.

Sedimentary Rocks

Sedimentary rocks are made up of small pieces of other rocks, minerals and organic material that get stuck together over time.

Looking to explain this rock type to your students? Have them picture they're at the beach making a sand castle. They pile on some rocks to add some decoration. Over time, more sand and rocks may be piled up on top of them by other people. The weight of the new sand and rocks pushes down on the ones below, and they start to stick together.

Then, let's pretend a big storm hits. The waves wash away some of the sand and rocks on top, but the layers of sand and rocks that are left behind get compressed even more, making them harder and more solid.

Eventually, those layers of sand and rocks will turn into a type of sedimentary rock called sandstone. Other sedimentary rocks, like limestone and shale, are made in similar ways, but with different types of materials.

Sedimentary rocks are often layered and can contain fossils, which provide evidence of past life on Earth.

Igneous Rocks

The most common type of rock on the planet is igneous, a type of rock formed from magma or lava that has cooled and solidified. These rocks make up 95 percent of the Earth's crust.

Magma is hot, molten rock that is found beneath the Earth's surface, while lava is molten rock that has erupted onto the Earth's surfaceYup, igneous rocks come from volcanos!

Igneous rocks fall into two types:

• Intrusive — This means they form underground as magma cools slowly.
• Extrusive — This means they form on the surface as lava cools quickly.

Some common examples of igneous rocks include granite, which is used to make countertops, and obsidian, which is a glass-like dark rock.

Metamorphic Rocks

The third type of rock is metamorphic. These rocks are formed from other rocks that have been changed by heat, pressure, and chemical processes. This can happen due to tectonic activity, such as the collision of two plates, or due to contact with hot fluids or gases.

Metamorphic rocks can have distinct layers, folds and bands, and they can contain minerals that are not found in other types of rocks. Some common examples of metamorphic rocks include marble (also used to make countertops) and slate.