Have you ever noticed that when you dig deep into the soil, its colour changes? What is the reason behind the change of colour of the soil? Earth’s surface consists of layers of soil that contains rock, sand, clay, slit, air, water, organic material, mineral, etc. As we dig deep into the soil, we can see these layers and their components.
We must teach children about the soil, its importance, and the layers of soil to our kids. We have discussed all six layers of soil in English below, along with some fun activities that you can use to make the learning process easy for your little one.
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What Is Soil And Why Is It Important?
Soil is the top-most layer of the Earth’s surface that contains a mixture of minerals, chemicals, and organisms that help support plant and animal life. Soil forms at the surface of the land and is therefore also called the “skin of the earth.” The soil supports plant life and is essential to life on Earth.
Let’s look at some points below to understand why soil is important.
- It serves as medium for the growth of all kinds of plants.
- It modifies the atmosphere by emitting and absorbing dust and various gases, like carbon dioxide and methane.
- It provides a habitat to animals that live in the soil and to organisms that account for most of the living things on Earth.
- It absorbs, holds, releases, and purifies most of the terrestrial systems’ water.
- It processes recycled nutrients, which include carbon, and enables living things can use them over and over again.
How Many Layers Of Soil Are There?
Do you also believe that there is only one layer of soil that we see on Earth’s crust? Well, there are multiple layers of soil and these layers are known as horizons. Let’s study more about these layers of soil or horizons with the help of the layers of the soil model.
1. Horizon
- The top-most organic layer of soil that consists mostly of leaf litter and humus.
2. A Horizon
- In this layer, the seeds germinate and plant roots grow.
- It is made up of humus mixed with mineral particles.
- This layer of soil is quite dark in colour.
3. E Horizon
- This layer is made up of sand and slit, having lost most of its minerals and clay as water drips through the soil.
- This layer is light in colour.
4. B Horizon
- This layer is made up of clay and mineral deposits, like iron, aluminium oxides, and calcium carbonate.
5. C Horizon
- This layer consists of slightly broken-up bedrock. Very little organic material is found in C Horizon layer.
6. R Horizon
- This un-weathered rock (bedrock) layer is beneath all the other layers.
Activities To Teach Your Kids About Soil Layers
Now that you are aware of the soil layers for preschoolers, let’s jump straight to the activities that will help your child to learn about these soil layers easily.
1. Building Blocks Soil Layer
Ask your child to create soil layers using their building blocks. Ask them to make one layer of soil with the same colour blocks and then make the next layer using another colour blocks. Repeat making the layers with different colours till all the layers are made.
2. Jump And Name
Make six lines on the floor using colourful tape. These will be the six layers of soil. Make sure to leave enough space to jump between these lines. Now, ask your child to start jumping from one layer to another while naming each layer of soil.
3. Write The Name
If your child can write, take a printout of drawing of layers of soil and ask your child to write the name of each layer next to the layer. You can also ask your child to draw these layers and fill them with colours. This way, your child will know what lies in each layer.
4. Soil Layer Dessert
You need the following things for this activity:
- Grass or hummus – Sugar powder (add green food colouring to it)
- Topsoil – Crushed Oreos
- Subsoil – Chocolate pudding
- Parent material – Crushed Hershey bars
- Bedrock – Chocolate chips
- Gummy bear candy
- A transparent jar
Add all these ingredients to a jar, one by one, to make layers of soil. Serve the yummy soil layers dessert to your kids.
We hope your child has a fun time learning about soil and its layers.
