For Tuesday’s Science lesson about what happens at the different plate boundaries I decided to let the kids get a little messy with a fun, hands-on activity. To begin, they finished a jigsaw activity they had started last class. After reading a section of their textbook, each group had to come up with an explanation of what happens at their assigned plate boundary and draw a diagram of it. Then, they formed new groups where each student taught their group about whichever boundary they had become an expert in. The students filled out a note-taking sheet on each boundary type, drew diagrams and learned from their peers.

Then the whipped cream came out. I’m not sure where I originally heard of this activity, but here is a link to a blog that I think describes it quite well.

http://www.playdoughtoplato.com/graham-cracker-plate-tectonics/

I gave each group a plate, sprayed some whipped cream on to it and then dropped a few drops of orange and red food colouring into it to make it look like the magma of the mantle. I gave each group 2 graham crackers and they were all set! First, we tried a divergent plate boundary by pressing down slightly and pulling the graham crackers apart. The students noticed the “magma” gushing up through the crack. I asked them “When this occurs on the ocean floor, what is it called?” Many hands shot up (and many rascals also called out) “sea-floor spreading!”

Overall, I think this activity helped the students visualize the plate boundaries and learn in a tactile way. And we only got whipped cream on 20% of the surfaces!