Free Printables About Soil

I bet your kids never think much about the ground they walk on every day. These free printables about soil will help you teach your kids all about what makes up the ground we walk on.

What is interesting is that soil, although it seems not to mean so much, is actually essential for the survival of all living things on Earth. The more you learn about soil, the more interesting it gets. Do you know that soil is actually a mystery to most people around the globe? It is complicated.

What is soil?

Soil is a complex mixture of four components. It made up of water, granular rocks, air, minerals, and then, of course, the creatures that live in it.

Soil is picky.

Different areas have different types of soil made up of broken or eroded rocks and minerals. This is called the soil’s PH or how alkaline or acidic it is.

I say all this because that soil PH determines where and how to farm and garden. That could very well be why absolutely nothing grows in my backyard. Some plants prefer acidic soil, and some prefer alkaline soil.

I never really knew plants had a soil preference. I grew up in the Bronx, and never even thought about growing a thing. Now that I know, it could be the reason why nothing grows in my backyard, no matter how hard I try.

You may have known that one, especially if you have a green thumb. What about this one?

Soil is a superhighway of biodiversity.

There are fungi, nematodes, mites, insects, microbes, and more that cannot live outside of its environment – soil. According to the New York Times, the vastness of the earth’s soil is one of the largest reservoirs of biodiversity.

Soil contains about 1/3 of all living things, but only 1% of its micro-organisms have been identified.

Check THIS out. One teaspoon of soil has billions of microbes. There are 5,000 different types of microbes, thousands of species of living things, protozoa, earthworms, termites, and viruses. Yup, viruses.

There are some people I know who come to Tonga, the island that I live in and get boils. When some people garden or are exposed to lots of the soil here, they get bad boils.

They are exposed to the different types of soil PH that they have never been exposed to before and BOOM, boil city. That’s gross, I know, I am so sorry.

Let your kids get dirty!

So moms, let your kids play in the soil outside. Get them used to the soil, the good and the bad. They will thank you for it as they become adults.

Read these 12 Ways to Play with a Bag of Dirt from CBC and build that immune system, studies show a little dirt “don’t” hurt.

OK. I will try to get away from the gross and dirty talk and tell you a few more facts about soil:

1. Of course, the soil is a pinnacle of growth of all types of plants.

2. Soils modify our atmosphere by emitting and absorbing gases and dust.

3. You never thought about it, but soil absorbs, holds, releases, alters, and purifies most of all-natural water systems.

4. Soil recycles nutrients, like carbon, so living things can use them over and over.

5. If you think about it, humans need soil more than we know. Think about engineering for construction, to make roads, to build dams, buildings, and more.

 Grab these free printables about soil for great science lessons.

Firstly, an excellent resource to help you is this site called Dig Deeper, Soils4Kids.com, and Teaching Kids About Soil, The Kids Garden.

Learning About the Layers of the Earth with FREE Printables

FREE Fact Sheets, Worksheets, and Activities on Soil | Soil-net.com

Soil FREE Lessons and Hands-On Activities | Soil4Teachers

FREE Soil Layers Worksheet | JumpStart

Healthy Soil Worksheet – FREE Hidden Words Puzzles Printable | Easy Science for Kids

Soil Quiz (FREE) | Help Teaching

FREE Resources to Help Kids Learn About Soil and Composting

FREE Printable Soil Worksheets | Easy Teacher Worksheets

Soil Layers FREE (OAEBCR) | Enchanted learning

Layers of Soil: Get the Dirt! FREE Download | Education.com

Soil Maze FREE Worksheet | Education.com

Properties of Soil FREE Word Search | Monster Word Search

Rocks & Soil Page FREE PDF | Squarehead Teachers

Singing About Soil FREE Printable | Please Feed Animals

These activities will go great alongside your lessons when teaching your kids about soil.

Learn about Dirt with Sediment Jars | Inspiration Laboratories

Rocks and Soil Book (FREE) | fromourclassroom to yours

What makes up soil? Scientific Inquiry FREE Printable Activities | Kearson’s Classroom

Eat Dirt…for Science! | STLMotherhood

Lego Soil Layers Earth Science STEM Activity | Little Bins Little Hands

Soil Porosity: Sand, Silt, and Clay FREE Project | Education.com

Collecting Soil Samples To Make Observations – FREEBIE | Learning Lab Resources

Testing Soil – Simple Science for Kids | Rainy Day Mum