Earthquakes produce different types of waves. Teach your students about the effects and appearances of these waves through a simple classroom activity using a slinky and a rope. Divide the students into groups of four and give each group a slinky and a rope. Have two students in each group stretch the slinky out along the floor. Instruct one student to move their end of the slinky back and forth to create waves. Explain that these waves are p-waves or primary waves. Have the remaining two students in each group stretch out the rope between them. Instruct one student to move their end of the rope up and down. Explain that these waves are S-waves or secondary waves.
Use this activity to familiarize students with the different types of faults. Students will learn how faults affect the surface of the earth. Set a cake pan on a flat surface. Cover the right side of the pan with one dishtowel and the left side with a second dishtowel. Position the towels so their edges meet inside the pan and part of each towel hangs over the edge of the pan. Fill the pan with damp soil. Choose a student to come and draw a line or "fault" in the soil with a pencil. Choose two students to come and cause the earthquake by pulling on the sides of the two towels. Have the students describe how the surface of the soil changed.
This game teaches children the definitions of terms associated with earthquake movements. Write a list of terms such as p-wave, s-wave, continent collision and divergent boundary. Have the class decide upon a specific movement for each term. For example, the students can jump up and down for s-waves or clap their hands together above their heads for continent collisions. Move the desks to clear a large area in the classroom and have the students stand in a circle. Call out terms and have the students perform the corresponding motion. The last student to make the motion is out and must sit down. The last student standing wins the game.
This classroom activity allows students to create and measure earthquakes with simple seismographs. Explain to students how seismographs can measure earthquakes and introduce them to the Richter scale. Divide the students up into pairs. Have each pair tape a piece of white paper to a desk. Choose one student to be the seismograph and one student to be the earthquake. Have the "seismograph" hold a marker over the top end of the paper with the marker's tip touching the paper's surface. Instruct the "earthquake" to wiggle the desk bag and forth while pulling it away from the "seismograph." Have the students compare the resulting waves on the papers.