Amber (Succinit) is a yellowish gemstone of fossil resin.

You can find it in the Baltic Sea.

Already in the elementary school you can produce jewelery with the children.

Step 1: Unpolished Amber and Worksheet

First you show the children an unpolished amber.

They can take it in their hands, feel and smell. So the senses are addressed and the children are curious.

The children can guess what stone it is and what it consist of.

Now you explain what it is and how the amber arises.

Then the children fill out a worksheet.

See pdf.

Step 2: Find or Buy

If you have the opportunity, you can now look for amber.

Be careful on the Baltic Sea. Phosphor from WW II bombs looks like amber.

You can also buy amber, here you go:

To make a jewelery out of raw amber, you have to polished it.

With sandpaper in different grain sizes, this can already done by children in elementary school.

But you have to be patient.

Raw amber

Sandpaper in various grain sizes (coarse to very fine)

Water

Towels

Patience

Wet the amber a little bit and first take sandpaper with very coarse

grain.

Gradually you take ever finer sandpaper.

Wet the stone again and again. In addition, you should change the direction to close the pores in the stone.

Finally, you can polish the piece of jewelry. This is with toothpaste (if children do it) or alcohol (adults).