Australia's Science Forum

I have almost completed re-homing our rock collection from take away chinese containers with hand written labels to more sturdy containers with printed labels and information on each rock ...

I NEED YOUR HELP ... I have various large fist sized single pieces of rocks, minerals etc ... I was going to make up a tray each of igneous, metamorphic etc with those pieces in it .. BUT how do I label each rock sample - clearly a sticky label will not stay on the rock - nor do I want to damage the integrity of it by swiping liquid paper over it ...

Please feel free to post piccies of how you have set up your rock collections ... Much thanks

This is what we have on our random Rocks that aren't parts of sets .

It's rough as guts and probably exactly what you are trying to avoid but the basic principle is that Dymo labels were attached with 24 hour Araldite glue quite possibly 30-40 years ago and they are still attached .

A perhaps more judicious application of glue might result in a more attractive outcome

Our other Rocks just have little Typed numbers glued on them but then a chart that won't get lost needs to be kept handy .

Araldite every time! I have printed modern dymo labels and glued on. Use a generous dollop of glue.

How do you work out what the rocks are if they are just in a large box of random rocks?
Lorikeet - what kind of containers did you use for the sets? Do they have dividers?

Kathryn

Some of ours already have blobs of liquid paper etc on them .. I have kitty litter trays and made up paper grids with photo of them and name label on grid .. then a seperate sheet with some general info on the rock mineral etc ... Kitty litter trays are like $3 each at reject shop ... As for working our what they are NO BLOOMIN IDEA ... I have asked teachers for assistance but have decided if I dont get assistance will make up random rock boxes ... Shame cause I am sure there are some beauties in there ... I just want them out of my prep room now ... Talk about opening pandoras box ... LOL I have sorted the majority ... and then there are some massive ones I am talking toe crushing!!! I think they should go if no educational value ..

I have put a small dob of different coloured paints from sample pots we were given from Bunnings about a 5 Cent size
Each type of rock eg igneous, sedimentary has a different colour and then a number is written on the paint blob to indicate the type of igneous rock, eg Andesite is 1, Basalt is 2 etc.
They are stored in class sets in Chinese food containers with the appropriate colour and number on the side and lid as well as a photo of the rock.
My eldest son is a Geologist and helped me with the initial identification of those I was unsure about.
This has worked well though the chinese containers need replacing every couple of years.

fibreweb wrote: This has worked well though the chinese containers need replacing every couple of years.

I went to reject shop and they had these awesome sturdy containers that are $2 each and have a lid that clips on
https://www.rejectshop.com.au/medias/ma ... jY5ZTUyNzQ

They are 1 ltr in volume and you can fit class sets in .. the lid has picture of rock and name and type ie igneous etc and on the side is some general info on that type of rocks origin - to help teachers ...