Iron for Kids - what is iron made of? where does iron come from? what do we use iron for?

Iron

Rusty sign
A rusty "Children Playing" sign from Japan

You can easily see that iron rusts and turns red when oxygen touches it. Go look around your backyard or your neighborhood and try to find ten things that are made of iron and have rusted. You might check cars, fences, old toys or tools left in the yard, nails, and street signs. If you're working on this in school, you could bring in photos of these rusty things to make into a poster.

What happens when you rub on the rust? Can you rub it all off and make the iron shiny and black again?

Main Iron page
Find out how people first began making iron tools, and the difference between iron and steel.

To find out more about atoms, check out these books from Amazon.com or from your library:

Why did people want to punch Socrates?

Click here to find out!

Where did Egyptians bury your liver?

Click here to find out

How old are the Rocky Mountains?

Click here to find out

What does a half-timbered house look like?

Click here to find out

How do you spin wool?
(a project)

Click here to find out


Hydrogen
Helium
Carbon
Oxygen
Molecules
Metals
Electricity
Chemistry
Science for Kids home page
Kidipede home page