Tremors. Overwhelming and mighty, Mother Nature’s awesome energies hiss and roar deep within the Earth. Plates collide, spewing lava. Rocks rain down and mud slides in torrents. Towns and cities vanish under ashen clouds. Discover the dangerous and ferocious world of natural disasters and glimpse their savage and deadly effects. Visit the ancient city of historic Pompeii, frozen in time, then create blistering explosions from model volcanoes that fire foamy lava. Discover the properties of rocks shaped by the Earth’s breathtaking power. Watch out. Volcanologists detect formidable rumblings from an extinct volcano in Scotland’s capital. Red alert! What would you do?

Parent Information

What happens when the Earth shakes? In this project, we’ll find out about the dangerous world of natural disasters and their deadly effects.

This term we’ll gather rock samples, find out about different types of rocks and sort them according to their properties. By carrying out research, we’ll investigate the Earth’s layers and the location of volcanoes, discovering what causes them to erupt. We’ll write powerful poetry inspired by our work on volcanoes. Working as archaeologists, we’ll locate Mount Vesuvius on a map and find out what it was like to live in Pompeii during the eruption. Using our model making skills, we’ll build earthquake-proof structures and test them out. We’ll also use different modelling materials to create a volcano – watch out, it’s going to blow!

At the end of the ILP, we’ll create digital presentations, so you can see all of the exciting things we’ve learned about.

Help your child prepare for their project
Earthquakes and volcanoes are fascinating forces of nature. Why not research famous earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and plot the locations on a map? You could also hunt for rocks in your garden and sort them into groups by their appearance. Alternatively, you could build small structures from recycled materials and test them to see if they could withstand an earthquake!