Sunday, July 17, 2011

Layers of the Earth

Part of our science curriculum deals with the layers of the earth (crust, mantle, core)

What better way to learn this than to make Earth models?

What you need to do:

1. Buy small styrofoam balls like this:

Styrofoam Balls 12-Pack: 2" White

2.  Cut out a small cross section by using a straight edge razor.  Cut halfway down (vertically) then halfway through (horizontally)-SEE PICTURES BELOW


3.  Use wooden skewers so your students have something to hold while painting.  They should paint the water first then let it dry (blue).  Next paint the continents (green-free hand-doesn't have to be perfect).  Finally they should paint the core (yellow) and around the core the mantle (red). 

We had these on display for our Open House and they were a big hit!

You can see the notch where I cut the cross section for the core and mantle

Painting the core and mantle
The continents

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