Rock Collecting as a Kid

Origninally published 3/31/2011 at explorealongtheway.com

I like rocks, but rocks are a hard subject to learn. (Did you laugh at my joke about rocks being hard? Sigh. I keep trying that with kids, but it is such a weak joke no one ever even notices it.) My fascination with rocks may be because when I was a kid the Pet Rock phase hit. Now, my parents, being practical, wouldn’t buy me a real pet rock, but had me go out and about looking for wild rocks.

I had a tin filled with rocks. I was particularly fond of white rocks. Even nowadays I have to restrain myself from picking up every white pebble that I see. I don’t know what happened to my collection. I do remember that it was forced to live in the basement (I suppose that is because they weren’t domesticated rocks). I’m sure that someday I’ll be cleaning the basement and I’ll discover my collection. The cool thing is, it will be just the same as when I left it unlike the yellowed pages of childhood books or the disintegrating artwork done on Manila paper.

I do have a current rock collection, started as an adult when I worked in an educational toy store. There I got tumbled rocks, rough cut pebbles, and slices of agate dyed in colors not found in nature. Whenever I go into a nature-oriented gift shop chances are that I’ll walk out with a rock.

I even have an acquaintance who owns a rock and crystal shop. (Originally, she owned a used bookstore with a few rocks up by the register. I tried to look at the books, but I got distracted by the rocks. All of my return trips were to buy rocks. I was incredibly happy when she moved and got rid of the books but expanded the rocks and crystals.)

At the nature center where I work, I tackled the buckets and boxes of rock collections that were donated when their owners died. It was then that I discovered that a whole lot of rock collectors just collected rocks without necessarily identifying them. Whether I do in-class presentations or field trips about rocks, I always point this out – yeah, the rock cycle is fascinating but picking up and keeping rocks is fun.

I know, parents would prefer to keep rocks outdoors instead of lining windowsills but might I instead recommend, Activities for Kids Who Collect Rocks and Make a Stone Cairn? I still have the compulsion to pick up rocks.