Before the meeting:

1. Create crayon shavings and cut the aluminum foil. Cover the table.
2. Set up meeting space for Cub Scouts with space to do the activity .

During the meeting:

1. Inform the Cub Scouts of the three types of rocks, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. Tell them that they will be using crayon shavings to simulate the different types of rock.
   • Igneous rock is any rock made by cooling magma (hot, molten material that flows under the Earth’s surface) or lava (molten rock that comes out of a volcano). Examples of igneous rock include basalt, granite, and obsidian.
   • Sedimentary rock is formed in layers. Sediment is gravel, sand, clay, or soil that settles and hardens out of water in riverbeds, ponds, lakes, and oceans. Sediment may contain shells and skeletons. If the sediment was originally sand, it becomes sandstone. Clay turns into shale. Shells and skeletons make limestone. Small pebbles and sand form conglomerate.
   • Metamorphic rock has been through a process much like baking. (Meta means “changed,” and morphic means “form.”) The change is caused by intense heat and great pressure deep in the Earth. Under these conditions, sedimentary limestone becomes marble. Sedimentary sandstone turns into quartzite. Igneous granite changes into gneiss (pronounced “nice”).
2. To make an igneous crayon rock:
   • Take a square of aluminum foil and pile all four colors of shavings in the center.
   • Fold up the side of the aluminum foil to make a boat. Place in mug.
   • Ask an adult to pour boiling water into the mug and float the boat in the hot water until all the crayon sediments have melted.
   • Then take the craft stick and stir the shavings until they are all mixed together. Remove the boat and let the crayon cool and solidify.
3. To create sedimentary rock:
   • Take one of the aluminum foil squares and sprinkle each of the colors of shavings into the middle of the square, one at a time so they will form the layers.
   • Fold the aluminum foil up tightly around the shavings and then compress it.
   • Carefully unfold the foil and remove the sedimentary rock with care as this is the most brittle of the rocks that you are making.
4. To create the metamorphic rock:
   • Take a square of aluminum foil and pile all four colors of shavings in the center.
   • Fold up the sides of the aluminum foil to make a boat.
   • Have an adult pour boiling water into a mug and float the boat in the hot water for 15 to 20 seconds, just until the shavings have started to melt.
   • Remove the boat and fold the foil in half so that the shavings are compressed a bit.
   • Let it cool and solidify and then open the foil and remove the metamorphic rock.