What is rock?

Rock is like the hard building blocks that make up the Earth’s crust.

Rock is what you get when minerals, tiny parts of the Earth made from stuff like sand and salt, stick together, just like how Legos snap together to build a castle. There are many kinds of rock, and each one has its own story.

1. Igneous rock is like what happens when lava cools down. Imagine pouring hot chocolate into a mug and letting it cool, the chocolate hardens into something solid.
2. Sedimentary rock is made when tiny pieces of rock, shells, or sand are pressed together over time. It's like stacking up coins in a piggy bank, after a while, they become one big pile.

Sometimes rocks get squished or heated deep inside the Earth, and they turn into metamorphic rock, it’s like when you press a cookie too hard in the oven, and it changes shape!

Rock is everywhere, under your feet, in mountains, even in the stones you skip across a pond. It's part of the Earth’s big, ever-changing puzzle!