Learn about soil erosion with a fun, hands-on edible science activity that kids are sure to love! Soil erosion for kids is a fun way to include a little earth science into your lessons. Look for the free printable project included to make lesson planning easy!

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Explore Soil Erosion For Spring Science

Spring is the perfect time of year for science! There are so many fun themes to explore. For this time of the year, our favorite topics to teach kids about spring include weather and rainbows, geology, Earth Day and of course plants!

Get ready to add this simple soil erosion science activity, to your lesson plans this season. Our science activities and experiments are designed with you, the parent or teacher, in mind!

Easy to set up, quick to do, most activities will take only 15 to 30 minutes to complete and are heaps of fun! Plus, our supplies lists usually contain only free or cheap materials you can source from home!

Let’s learn about soil erosion with a simple soil erosion definition for kids. Explore what causes erosion and how do you prevent it. While you’re at it, make sure to check out these other fun spring science activities.

What Is Soil Erosion?

Soil is a thin layer of material that covers the earth’s surface. It is made up of minerals, organic materials, air, water and living organisms. Soil can be easily degraded through the process of erosion. See our layers of soil activity.

Erosion is a natural process that occurs when soil, rocks, and other materials are worn away by wind, water, and other forces. It is a slow process that happens over time, but it can have a big impact on the environment.

Soil erosion is a problem because it means the loss of fertile land for farming. Land, which has soil eroded, is less able to hold onto water, which can make flooding worse.

It also leads to more pollution and sediment (sand and rocks) moving into streams and rivers, and a decrease in fish and other animals in those areas. Learn about storm water runoff.

What Causes Soil Erosion?

There are several ways that soil erosion can happen. Soil erosion can happen when large areas of forest are cleared. It exposes the topsoil, which can then be eroded by flowing water and wind.

Overgrazing of land is also another cause of soil erosion. Animals eat all the available grass, including the roots of plants. This makes the soil vulnerable to erosion by wind or water.

Types Of Erosion:

Water erosion happens when water flows over land, washing away soil and other materials. This can happen from rivers, streams, waves and even from rain.

Learn more about water erosion with an easy to set up beach erosion activity.

Wind erosion happens when winds blow over the ground, picking up soil and other materials and
carrying them away.

This happens when land is not covered with many grass or plants. For example; in desert and semi-desert regions where you get strong winds. Learn about biomes of the world.

How Do You Prevent Soil Erosion?

Without soil, plants can’t grow and animals would not have food to live! There are several ways to protect the soil and prevent soil erosion.

  1. Plant new trees and other plants to make sure exposed soil is protected.
  2. Between crops on farms, plant cover crops so the ground is not left bare.
  3. Grow a belt of trees around farmland to protect it from winds.
  4. On sloped land, use terraced farming.
  5. Put in measures to divert water and prevent flooding from major rivers.

Get Your FREE Printable Soil Erosion Project!

Soil Erosion Demonstration For Kids

This soil science activity would be great to pair with this edible layers of soil activity!

Supplies:

  • Cookies or crackers
  • Paper plate
  • Toothpick
  • Water dropper
  • Straw

Instructions:

STEP 1: Grab a paper plate and a few cookies or crackers.

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STEP 2: Use the straw to blow on your crackers. The straw simulates the wind. Record your observations.

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STEP 3: Now poke the cracker with a toothpick. This simulates birds and animals pecking and poking around in the ground or soil, loosening it. Now blow with the straw again.

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STEP 4: Add drops of water to simulate rain. What did you observe?

STEP 5: Record all of your observations on erosion and discuss what you learned.

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More Fun Earth Science Activities

When you finish this soil erosion activity, why not explore more earth science with one of these ideas below. You can find all our geology activities for kids here!

Make your own tasty sedimentary rock to explore geology.

Explore the stages of the rock cycle with a crayon rock cycle or candy rock cycle!

Why not grow sugar crystals or make edible geodes!

Explore the layers of soil with simple LEGO bricks and with an edible soil layers model.

See tectonic plates in action with this hands-on project.

Grab some colored sand and glue for this fun layers of the earth activity.

Learn all about volcanos with these volcano facts, and even make your own volcano.

Learn about how fossils are formed.

Printable Spring Pack

If you’re looking to have all of your printable activities in one convenient place, plus exclusive worksheets with a spring theme, our 300+ page Spring STEM Project Pack is what you need!

Weather, geology, plants, life cycles, and more!