Rocks are everywhere!

Robert Wolf holds the fossilized remains of a path or burrow made by an unknown ancient animal. He is going to keep this one! (AP)
Mr. Wolf looks over a geode that his wife, JoRae, found on one of their collecting trips. (AP)
In Fort Dodge, Iowa, Robert Wolf sits among the boxes of rock examples he is donating to the University of Iowa. (AP)
This fossil is ancient. It is one piece of the collection that Mr. Wolf has carefully numbered and listed. (AP)
You can start a rock collection. First, see how many different-looking ones you can gather. Then ask for help to figure out what kind they all are. Make a list.

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Robert Wolf lives in Iowa. He collects rocks. He has thousands from around the state!

His first find was a fossil. A friend helped him. They were in fourth grade.

Mr. Wolf gave most of his rocks away. He moved to a smaller home. It has no room for 250 boxes of rocks!

READ MORE: Mr. Wolf wrote down where and when he found each of his rocks. He gave each rock and fossil a number. Those records are in notebooks. Most of his collection is now at the University of Iowa. But he has kept some special rocks. One is a geode the size of a cantaloupe. It is lined with crystals. His wife found that one! Hannah praised God for her little boy Samuel. She said in 1 Samuel 2:2, “There is no Rock like our God.”

Lesson #1: Rock Collecting. Young kids love rocks. They might even become avid collectors. Prepare for a collecting trip by having a notebook and pencil, hammer and chisel, a strong bag, a supply of plastic bags (for specimens), and small cut strips of some kind of adhesive tape (place the strips on a sheet of waxed paper; then number each one.) These will help with labeling in the field. Hammer or chip off a chunk of a large rock. It should be about the size of a fist (smaller rocks are fine). Immediately put a numbered piece of tape on the stone. Write in your notebook the number of the stone and where you found it. If you find something really intriguing, take home two specimens—one for your collection and one for trading. “And who is a rock, except our God?” (Psalm 18:31)