For the Love of Rocks

Like many children, Emmy loves to collect items from nature -especially rocks.  Ever since she could walk, treasures from nature have come into our house.  Emmy has a nature tray in her bedroom where she keeps all of these treasures.  To this day, it is rare for her to come home without a rock, shell or acorn in her pocket (or in my purse).  Emmy also enjoys going to stores and museums that have polished rocks. A recent find, from the Harvard Museum of Natural History, is a piece of Chalcopyrite KAL-kah-PIE-rite (shown on the left in her hand above). It is also known as peacock pyrite because of its shiny iridescent qualities which is what drew her to this rock right away.  

Along with collecting rocks, Emmy and I love to read books about rocks.  Here are a few that we have added to our collection of rock books.  

In the photo essay style book, If You Find a Rock by Peggy Christian with photographs by Barbara Hirsh Lember, children are finding different kinds of rocks that aren't classified by mineral or structure, but rather by use:  skipping rocks, splashing rocks, climbing rocks, resting rocks.  

Maybe you find a soft white rock - 

a rock that feels dusty in your fingers.  

Then you have a chalk rock and you use it

 to make pictures on the pavement.  

Emmy's favorite classification from this book is a wishing rock. This is a rock with a line all the way around it.  Trace the line, whisper what you want and then throw it.  Here is an example of a wishing rock from our collection.  If You Find a Rock is the perfect beginning to a more formal classification of rocks.  I love that it focuses on observation and appreciation for rocks.  

Next up is a book by one of my favorite authors Byrd Baylor. Baylor lives and writes in an adobe house powered by solar energy in the Sonoran desert of Arizona (she refers to a technical glitch as one where her pen runs out of ink). She presents images of the Southwest through beautiful prose that illustrates vividly the value of simplicity, the natural world and the intense connection between the land and the people.  Baylor's book, Everybody Needs a Rock with illustrations by Peter Parnall, outlines ten rules for choosing the absolutely perfect rock for you. The specifications will make you smile... 

Rule Number 1 

If you can, go to a mountain made out of nothing 

but a hundred million small shiny beautiful roundish rocks. 

But if you can't, any place will do even an alley, even a sandy lake.  

Emmy's favorite rule:  Rule Number 6...The size must be perfect.  It has to feel easy in your hand when you close your fingers over it.  It has to feel jumpy in your pocket when you run.  Some people touch a rock a thousand times a day.  There aren't many things that feel as good as a rock if the rock is perfect.  

I'm going to be sure to reread this book with Emmy because I know that we can use Baylor's idea of ten rules to make lists for other nature items such as, ten ways for choosing a shell, a leaf, a horse chestnut or perhaps even a friend. 

Last is a book by Leo Lionni that is quite different from his signature color and collage work. On My Beach There are Many Pebbles provides us with a whimsical look at rocks.  Part realism and part fantasy...there are fishpebbles and goosepebbles and peoplepebbles and letterpebbles to admire and talk about.  Emmy and I get very excited any time we find a rock that looks like the shape of a heart.

On my beach there are many pebbles 

Most are ordinary pebbles but 

some are strange and wonderful.  

I want to mention two items that Emmy and I use when we are on the hunt for a special rock or something else found in nature.  

(1) We love this mesh bag that was given to Emmy as a birthday gift a few years ago.  It is perfect for holding lots of special items and keeps them from ending up in my purse!  

(2) We also love this little book, Dig Into Rocks, Minerals & Crystals, that we found at the shop in the Harvard Museum of Natural History.  It is simple in text with real photographs of a variety of rocks like the Chalcopyrite.  Emmy often refers to this book when she comes home with a new rock.  

One last thought before I end this post...using rocks to create art is one of Emmy's favorite things to do. She will often move rocks around to create a picture or stack them to create a sculpture.  Sorting them is another thing that she does naturally without any nudging from me.  I love that we can create art anywhere using items from nature!   

Happy Rock Collecting! 

Colors

As a former teacher of young children, who always had a project up her sleeve, I thought that Emmy and I would be doing projects constantly. Sadly, that has not been the case. Days seem to go by without even a crayon being taken out of the box. Well, that is going to change! I know that allowing Emmy the opportunity to work with lots of art materials is a must and I am on a mission to do a project, if not every day, then every other day.

Recently, Emmy's Daddy came across a very simple science experiment that got all of us talking about color. Using milk, food coloring, dish soap and cotton swabs, we got some first hand experience with color mixing. Here's just how simple this project is: pour milk onto a plate, squirt small puddles of red, yellow and blue food coloring (separately) into the center of the dish. Take a cotton swab and dip it into the dish soap. Now, dab the cotton swab into each color puddle and watch the colors swirl! Oh, Emmy thought she was a color magician.

This experiment got me thinking about books that discuss more than just objects of a certain color. The first book that came to mind was Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh. Walsh cleverly introduces her readers to the subject of colors using her adorably illustrated white mice. When these three mice discover three jars of paint - one red, one yellow and one blue - each climbs right in. The red mouse stumbles onto a surprise when he finds out that if he steps in a yellow puddle and does a little dance, his paint puddle turns orange. The other two mice follow suit creating paint puddles of green and purple. But when a cat approaches, the three mice quickly return to their original white color and hide among the white paper. It's no wonder that this creative book has won several children's book awards.

Another book to come to mind is Color Dance by Ann Jonas. This book is a joyful celebration of color and movement with the primary colors - red, blue and yellow - being showcased beautifully by three dancers holding scarves. As the dancers begin to move, the primary colors blend together to create secondary colors - green, orange and purple - as well as tertiary colors - yellow orange, blue violet, blue green, etc. With minimal text, Jonas allows the concept of color to come across vividly through her illustrations. A color wheel at the end of the book completes the conceptual design.

And finally, Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni is another wonderful book that not only shows the color process, but also allows a glimpse into an endearing friendship. Little Blue and Little Yellow are best friends, but one day they can’t find each other. When they finally do, they give each other such a big hug that they turn green! How they find their true colors again concludes a wonderfully satisfying story told with colorful pieces of torn paper and very few words. First published in 1959, this classic book is being celebrated with a 50th-anniversary edition, to be released in October 2009, that includes Lionni’s own explanation about how the book came to be. Using torn pieces of paper, Lionni created the story of Little Blue and Little Yellow to help pass the time on a dull train trip with his very young grandchildren. I was introduced to Lionni's books by a very dear friend of mine and as such each of his heartwarming stories holds a special place in my heart that I hope will also find a place in Emmy's heart.

With these three books checked out of the local library, I am ready to continue the study of color with Emmy!