WEBELOS

Geologist Activity Badge
Crossroads of America

To most ten-year-old boys, the study of Geology will not sound too exciting.  But the fact is Geology can be fun.  Here's another opportunity for the Webelos leader to present the subject in such a way that the boys will find it not only fun, but they'll learn a good deal also.  This natural curiosity about rocks can make this a natural starting point for the Geologist Activity Badge.

In working on this badge, the boys will learn how the earth is formed, how rocks and minerals are used and how a Geologist works.  You’ll find that the Webelos Scout Book contains information on volcanoes, geysers and the formation of mountains.  Using this resource, the boys should acquire a fairly good understanding of this with only a little assistance.  To make your job easier and the activity more interesting, check with rock and gem clubs in your area - most ‘rock-hounds’ are eager to tell what they know about rocks.

Ideas For Den Meetings
Crossroads of America

1.        Go on a treasure hunt for rocks and minerals and identify them and check specimens on mineral hardness scale.   Use small cardboard boxes with dividers to display them.

2.        Make a collection of geologic materials used in construction.  Make a display too.

3.        Visit a geology exhibit or department at a museum.

4.        Visit a jeweler's shop.

5.        Visit a rock collector's club meeting.

6.        Tour a quarry, mine, or gravel pit.

7.        Look for fossils.

8.        Visit an industry that uses geological materials.

9.        Make a mineral hardness kit.

10.     Study cause and effects of earthquakes.  Make posters and charts.

Geology deals with the earth's composition, structure and geologic processes and surface changes.

This includes:

Mineralogy: study of minerals.

Petrology: study of rocks.

Structural geology: study of arrangement of rocks on earth.

Geomorphology: study of the origin of surface features.

Economic geology: study of earth's economic products and their uses.

Stratigraphy: origin, composition, proper sequence, and correlation of rock strata.

Paleontology: study of ancient organisms, fossils.

Importance Of Rocks
Crossroads of America

To introduce boys to rocks, tell them of the impor­tance of rocks and how they can determine the wealth of a nation.  Their kinds and quantities can determine whether the people of a nation are poor or wealthy.  The importance of rock can easily be pointed out in four different ways:

1.  Food -- Soil is made up of the fragments of rocks with their minerals and many other substances.  Soil is a direct result of the weathering of rock of which it is composed.  Except for the products of the sea, all animals and people are direct­ly dependent upon food grown in the soil. 

2.  Fuel -- Fuel comes from rocks.  Coal is a rock composed of or­ganic material.  Oil is found in rocks such as sandstone and shale.  Our economy couldn't exist without a good supply of fuel.

3.  Mining -- Many ores such as iron, copper, zinc, aluminum, lead, sulfur, borax rocklike.  Without these ores, manufacturing would be impossible. 

4.  Construction -- Tons of crushed rock, gravel and sand that are used in making roads and buildings.  There are the various kinds of cut stone used for building blocks and monuments, and the materials used in the building of your home and the many things that are in it.

If you can round up a “rock hound" from your pack, he can help the boys with some of the technical aspects of geology and the study of rocks and minerals.

Volcano Slide
Crossroads of America

Materials:  1½" x ½" plastic pipe, Plaster or self drying clay, Paint

Use plaster or clay to build up the pipe in the shape of a volcano.  Let the plaster or clay set up until completely dry and hard.  Let some plaster "run" down the mountain to look like the escaping lava.  Using green and or brown paint, paint the mountain.  Use red to paint the lava flow.

Games
Crossroads of America

Rock or Mineral Identification Contests: Identify specimens and name them.

Flash Cards: Cut out photographs of a variety of rocks and tape & each one onto an index card. (You can buy rock hounds magazines and cut them up.) Write the correct identification on the back. Work in pairs to learn rock identification.

Nuggets In The Bag: Put a certain number of different sized rocks in a cloth drawstring.  Each boy is given the bag for 15 seconds.  He then passes it to the next boy.  When all the boys have had a chance to examine the bag for fifteen seconds, it is returned to the Den Chief.  The boy who guesses the correct number of rocks in the bag then takes his turn as the one who puts an amount of nuggets in the bag.

Rock Pick Up: Arrange the players around a table or kneeling in a circle on the floor.  Give each a saucer with two toothpicks and 12 small rocks.  On signal, the contest is on to see who can be the first to lift out five rocks.  With each round, increase the number of rocks needed to win.