A Pocketful of Geological Time
Arrange a few ordinary stones as a wordless story of change.
- 10–20 minutes
- Little setup
- Easy to pause
- Seated friendly
- Little cleanup
- Low effort
What you need
Use three to five clean stones already in your collection, or other lightweight natural objects you own. No outdoor collecting is needed.
- found objects
Make it
Use three to five clean stones already in your collection, or other lightweight natural objects you own. No outdoor collecting is needed.
- 1
Choose one visible feature to follow, such as roughness, stripes, or roundness.
- 2
Arrange the objects as a gradual change from one end to the other. There is no scientifically correct order to find.
- 3
Reverse the sequence or move one object and notice how your imagined story changes. Return the objects when finished.
Short on energy? Compare two objects by sight without moving them.
A good place to stop: One sequence with a beginning and an end is complete.
Make it work for you: Use lightweight objects and avoid gripping or stacking. You can select an order with your eyes instead.
Another route: Order the objects by how much light their surfaces reflect.