Hidden Geology Museum in the Hills of Kansas

As most of you know, I have a rock hound in my house.  He is always looking for new rocks.  Especially ones he can polish and make jewelry out of.  If you have someone who likes rocks, fossils or minerals, I found a gem of a museum right in the middle of Kansas that is absolutely FREE! 

Located on the campus of Emporia State University just a few short blocks from Interstate 35.  I have heard about the Johnston Geology Museum several times, but wasn’t sure of the hours.  Apparently, as long as the building is unlocked you can visit, which means school is in session.

The fossil displays were amazing to my little rock hounds.  They had a new list of fossils they wanted to find in the area.  It also gave them more of an idea of what kids of sea once covered where we now live.

We also enjoyed seeing all the different rocks and minerals that could be found in the area.  Some were found in Oklahoma, but most in Kansas. 

Unfortunately, the geology professor was out of the country when we visited, but we plan to go back sometime and talk with her.  Everyone on the campus was super friendly (like typical Kansans) and answered any questions we had.

If you are driving diagonal across Kansas, I encourage you to stop and let the kids out of the car at a FREE place and give them a bit of Kansas ancient history.  Where are your favorite free places to stop when traveling with kids?  Is there a hidden gem in your area that I should know about?  Tell me!  You never know which direction we will go on vacation next year.  Don't forget Hays is home to the Sternberg Museum which is well worth the admission price.

PS I have also heard there is a free zoo in Emporia as well, but I haven’t checked it out yet.

-A Kansas Farm Mom

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4-H is More than Livestock Projects

Well, our family survived another year at the county fair.  This was the first time that I have had both boys competing and exhibiting.  Let me get this straight the county fair is a place for the kids to demonstrate what THEY have learned not what I have done for them.  My boys work their hearts out to get to the county fair.  They spent hours in the kitchen, barn, craft supplies, fields and even shopping to earn the ribbons they were awarded. I have talked before about how much I Love 4-H.

Don’t think that I am going to only talk about the livestock projects.  Yes, the whole family spends hours together with the livestock, but I truly believe to raise well rounded and well educated kids they need to try a variety of projects. 

The Geology project is something that I knew nothing about 4 years ago.  I never displayed geology when I was in 4-H.  I always admired my best friend’s box though.  When my then 7 year old started collecting fossils in the yard, we decided to try it out for a year.  Here is his box this year.

Geology has evolved into Lapidary, a sub division of the geology project.  He collects or buys rocks and minerals to polish.  We have a rock tumbler that runs almost continuously throughout the year.  In Kansas 4-H, there are many different types of lapidary displays.  His box this year shows the before and after of 5 different stones he polished this year.  These specimens took him 4 to 7 weeks to polish in the tumbler each.

Then we had the problem of what to do with these pretty rocks, so both boys made jewelry for the arts and crafts project.  They used different mounting methods to display the stones.  

They are still boys, so I also let them take their Lego kits to display at the fair.

Another crafty type project the youngest completed was a rocket for the Rocketry project.  This was a bit more involved project than we expected it to be when we started.  Not only do these kids have to glue, paint and apply decals, they must launch the rocket before exhibiting it.  They are also to calculate the altitude that the rocket reached.  Well, for my 7 year old figuring tangents was a little over his head, so I helped him the best I could.  He also had to fill out this form about his rocket and have 1-5 pages of pictures. 

I also think that all kids, boys and girls, should know how to cook.  We all eat every day.  If we don’t know how to cook we end up eating out way too much.  The boys had a good time learning how to bake and are great at reading directions and measuring ingredients.  If you really think about it, baking is just edible chemistry experiments.  The recipe for the Two Cheese Braided Bread is already up on the blog.

Over the coming months, I hope that a few other farm moms are going to help me explain a variety of 4-H projects and help new 4-H mom's with some helpful hints.

-A Kansas Farm Mom