Earthquake Experiments

Help your students understand the effects of an earthquake during your fast and slow changes of the earth unit! These earthquake experiments are perfect for engaging your students and they're hands-on activities!

One thing I like to put emphasis on during our earth changes unit is helping my students understand just how destructive earthquakes can be along fault lines. I use this activity here from my Earthquake Science Tabbed Booklet. In this activity, I take two strips of cloth (representing two different plates) and cover it with the Earth’s crust (soil). Then I place houses representing a town all along with the soil. I always make sure to have a few houses on the actual fault line. Then I have two students assist. One student pulls from one side one strip toward them, while the other student does the same on the other side using the opposite strip. When it is pulled, students notice the “fault line” right away. The destruction (upside-down houses!) is very obvious. Once again, we discuss the various ways this could have occurred, such as pulling in the same direction or the speed with which we pull.

Help your students understand the effects of an earthquake during your fast and slow changes of the earth unit! These earthquake experiments are perfect for engaging your students and they're hands-on activities!

My kiddos absolutely love this activity and they really help students grasp the concept of earthquakes. If you’re looking for some other hands-on and engaging earthquake activities, you may want to read my blog post Do You Fault on Teaching Earthquakes? where students use graham crackers and frosting to move the plates (also great for seeing mountain building too!), or read about how we shook some buildings on different foundations at my Earthquake Simulations post.

 You can find these great activities and more in my Teachers Pay Teachers store in my Earth Science Units and Earthquake Tabbed Booklet.

2 Responses

  1. hi..did u have any tip,classroom experiment or model to teach inner earth..mantil,core etc…

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