The most common mountains in the world are fold mountains. These include, for example, the Carpathians, the Alps, and the Himalayas. They are formed by folding, i.e., movements involving the compression and uplift of rocks caused by the collision of continental plates.
Use the experiment to see how interesting this process is.
Goal:
- For children to learn about the process of mountain folding.
Time: 15 minutes
MATERIALS
- Cake wafers or crisp bread
- Thick yogurt
- Plate
- Spoon
- Apron (optional)
Task Description
The teacher prepares a plate with a little yogurt, a wafer, and a spoon for each child. The teacher then demonstrates the course of the experiment, performing it for the first time as a demonstration.
1. Pour a little thick yogurt onto the plate and spread it over the entire surface of the plate.
2. Place a wafer on the yogurt and squeeze it from both sides towards each other.
3. Observe how the wafer cracks and its parts overlap.
4. Note that the longer the wafer stays on the yogurt, the more it soaks up, and the shapes become rounder.
After observing, children can experiment on their own. It is worth choosing products whose taste is liked by children so that after completing the task, they will want to gobble up the resulting massifs.
This post was created as part of a project co-financed by Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt in cooperation with Naturschutzzentrum Oberlausitzer Bergland.