In our classroom, every Thursday is Mad Science Thursday.  This means every week my students engage in a hands-on science experiment where they get to do the mixing and exploding and scientific exploration.  We’r always on the lookout for a new kindergarten science experiment and when we found these homemade rocks, I knew we had to do it!

Kindergarten Science Experiment:  Sparkling Gems

This kindergarten science experiment turned out a little more messy than I intended, BUT, we always say, the messier the better!

For this kindergarten science experiment, you will need:

Ice Cream Salt.  We purchased ours from Amazon.

Liquid watercolors from Amazon

Glue, a bowl and a spoon for mixing.

Sparkling Gems:  Preparation

The night before you need to color the ice cream salt.  Simply pour the salt into a Zip-loc bag.  Add watercolor and a splash of water.  Shake.  Spread out on wax paper to dry overnight.

Making Sparkling Gems

To make them gems, pour some colored rock salt into a bowl.  I didn’t measure the amount, just eye balled the amount.

Then you add white glue.  Again, I just poured some glue in.  I didn’t measure the amount.

Students use their hands (or spoons if you choose) to mix the glue and rock salt.  Your hands will get messy but everything washed right off!

Once the salt and glue is mixed, students squeeze the rock salt and form it into the sparkling gem or handmade rock.

Then place the gems on wax paper to drive.  Allow them to dry overnight and you end up with hard, sparkling gems!

For more hands on science experiments check out our Mad Science Creations!

Thank you Funlittles.com for the inspiration!