Panning for Gold

Crayola® Colored Pencils, cut paper, and Crayons help you bring a prospector's world to life in a pop-up scene.

• 1.

  Research the American Gold Rush and the impact it had on the North American West. In the mid 1800s, gold was discovered in California, and the promise of potential wealth contributed to the spread of population across the continent.

• 2.

  Gold prospectors led a difficult life, traveling thousands of miles alone into unknown country. When they arrived at their destination — whether it was California or the Canadian Rockies — they often spent a great deal of time searching for gold, and many never found it. They faced danger from the wilderness as well as other miners. What other hardships can you imagine they endured?

• 3.

  One method prospectors used to search for gold was to sift pebbles and sand in stream beds that flowed from the mountains. This was called panning for gold. Imagine that you are panning for gold. How would you use tools to search? Would you look in deep water, or shallow?

• 4.

  On white construction paper, use Crayola® Colored Pencils to draw a person panning for gold. Dress your prospector in rugged clothes, including blue jeans and a flannel shirt. Show the person kneeling with a pan in hand. Use Crayola Scissors to cut out your figure. Cut an extra tab of paper to attach your prospector's knees to the streambed.

• 5.

  Fold another sheet of white construction paper in half. Use colored pencils to draw a stream bed on the bottom half.

• 6.

  On the back (vertical) half of the folded paper, draw several trees. Cut out one side of each tree. Fold the cut half forward, so it stands up on the bottom of your paper.

• 7.

  Use Crayola School Glue to attach green construction paper to the back of your scene for a forest effect. Glue your prospector to the stream bed.

• 8.

  Use Crayola Crayons to place gold in the stream bed and in your prospector's pan--the luckiest gold-miner in California! If your prospector was especially fortunate, color several scraps of gold paper, crumple them up to resemble rocks, and place them on

Benefits

• Students study the history of the American Gold Rush and its effects on prospector's lives, indigenous peoples, western expansion, and the U.S. and Canadian economy.
• Students imagine life as a hopeful prospector during the Gold Rush.
• Students depict a 3-dimensional replica of a person panning for gold in a stream bed.

Adaptations

• Gold was also collected from mines dug into hillsides. Create a second pop-up scene showing a miner at work. Research ways mines were constructed, including supports used to hold up dirt ceilings. Research the clothing and special tools miners used. How w
• The gold rush caused the development of many small Western towns. Create a pop-up scene of a Western town, complete with miners, cowboys and their horses, and merchants.
• Gold is a soft metal. Find out more about its unique chemical properties. Interview a jeweler or geologist. Research the many uses for gold.