Experiment | Make a Sedimentary Rock

Approximate time to complete: 30-45 minutes + waiting time + questions and journal time

Experiment Card

Click below to download and print this experiment card:

About This Activity

In this activity, you will make a sedimentary rock out of different colors of “sediment”.

You’ll Learn

• How sedimentary rocks form.

Pre-Activity Questions

• Have you ever seen a rock or a mountain that has stripes? Or layers?

Materials

• Equal number pieces of different colored Jolly Ranchers hard candy
• Plastic bag
• Hammer + surface to hammer on
• 2 plastic beakers
• Heavy can

Procedure

1. Put 1 color of candy into the plastic bag.
2. Hit the candy with the hammer to crush it into small pieces.
3. Pour the candy pieces into a plastic beaker.

4. Repeat steps 1-3 with the other candy colors, pouring one candy color on top of the other.
5. Put the other empty beaker on the top layer of candy.
6. Put a heavy can on top of the beaker, and leave it overnight.
7. Remove the heavy can and the top beaker.
8. Carefully flip the candy beaker onto a flat surface, and gently try to remove the candy from the beaker.

Questions & Further Research

Use these questions as a guide to write a journal entry, make a poster, give a presentation, or write a research report about this activity or a related topic.

1. What did the candy look like when it came out of your beaker?
2. Which layer of your candy rock is the “oldest”? Which is the “youngest”?
3. Find some photos of rocks that look like the candy did when you took it out of the beaker. What kind of rocks are they?
4. The thing you made looks like a rock, but is it really rock? Explain why you think it is, or isn’t.
5. Talk about how this demonstration relates to sedimentation.

Extension

• Take a look at your 3 Major Types of Rock Nomenclature and Sorting Cards if you haven’t already!