For a mess-free, easy art activity about the layers of the earth, help your child cut a large circle out of a piece of blue construction paper, representing the Earth. Next, cut a circle out of yellow construction paper about an inch smaller in diameter. Cut a third circle approximately one-quarter of the size of the blue circle using orange construction paper, and a fourth circle out of red construction paper, half the size of the orange one. Now, provide your child with school glue. Have the child center and glue the yellow circle onto the blue one, the orange circle onto the yellow, and the red one onto the orange. Explain that the red and orange circles at the center of the "Earth" are its inner and outer core. The yellow is the mantle, and the thin outer rim of blue represents the Earth's crust. Encourage your child to decorate the surface of the Earth on the backside of the project and label the layers. Punch a hole in the center, run a piece of thread through the hole and hang in a bedroom, playroom or learning area when finished.
Purchase a large, white Styrofoam ball from a craft supply store, and have the child use green, brown and blue markers or craft paint to color the outside of the ball to resemble the Earth. Provide children with simple images of the Earth's continents and oceans for an accurate representation. Once the globe is colored and dried, use a knife to cut a deep, wide wedge out of the Styrofoam ball. Draw a small arc in the center of the space where you removed the wedge to represent the inner core and another arc around it for the outer core. A little more than halfway up from the center of the cut, draw another arc inside the globe for the mantle, and then a thin, final ring just below the edge of the cut to represent the Earth's crust. Explain each layer to the child, instructing him to color in the circles you made using brown, yellow, orange and red paint or markers. Help your child make little flags out of toothpicks and tiny note pads describing each layer and insert into the appropriate sections of the inner globe portion of the ball.
Children can create stunning images of the Earth's interior with glitter shakers and school glue. Have the child begin by placing a 1- to 2-inch circle of glue in the center of a piece of construction paper, slightly spreading the glue around in a thin, even layer so that it fills the circle entirely. Have the child shake red glitter over the glue, tap off excess, and allow to dry for 10 minutes. Next, instruct the child to make a second circle around the first with the glue, filling in all the space between the first circle and the edge of the second. Have the child shake orange glitter onto the glue, tap the excess off the paper, and allow to dry for another 10 minutes. Repeat the process with gold glitter for the mantle and then a thin, outer ring for the crust with blue or green glitter.
For a more involved art activity, older children can make sand art to represent the geographic layers of rock in the Earth's crust. Provide children with clear plastic bottles, a funnel and different colors of sand. Using books or online printouts as a guide, have children fill their bottles with layers of sand to represent the different types of rocks and minerals or the different periods of the Earth as represented in the geologic record. Include tiny clay fossils, small pebbles or stones and other small embellishments for a detailed sand art bottle.