Are you a teacher or educator looking for activities and lesson plans about earthquakes? We've created a curated list of some effective activities for you to explore, sorted either by grade level or by topic. All of these resources are available freely on the Internet, and sources are credited below.
Explore Earthquake Activities by Grade Level
Explore Earthquake Activities by Topic
General Resources for All Age Groups
| Title and Link | Summary of Resource |
|---|---|
| USGS General Earthquake Info | General information on earthquakes from the USGS |
| USGS Animations | Collection of animations on earthquakes |
| SERC | Activity that shows how magnitudes work with earthquakes in a kinesthetic way, while also naturally teaching logarithms |
Elementary Resources
| Title and Link | Summary of Resource |
|---|---|
| Ready.gov | Preparation for earthquakes overview |
Middle School Resources
| Title and Link | Summary of Resource |
|---|---|
| UNAVCO | An interactive lesson on how to better visualize the inter-relationships of geophysical and geologic processes, structures, and measurements with high-precision GPS monument data and solutions on Earth |
| Exploratorium | Hands on activities to teach geoscience concepts related to earthquakes |
| IRIS | Demonstration of a seismograph |
| TikToks | Teaches earthquake concepts in short 1-minute TikTok videos. Joint UNAVCO, IRIS, NSF project |
| Earth Institute | Earthquake video with animations |
| Kesler Science | Includes multiple methods of learning (ex: models and visuals) to understand how the Earth’s crust is being stressed |
| Nasco | Ready-to-go lesson plan for Grades 6-8 that includes multiple activities as well as instructions to modify for remote learning |
| Shakeout.org | Topics include: What causes earthquakes, how do structures respond, how do tsunamis occur, and more. Resources include: videos and animations, games, coloring pages/books, photo galleries, maps, posters, etc. |
| Science Matters | Module contains fault activities, seismic wave formation, finding the epicenter, and earthquake preparedness |
| NEES | Lesson on how to use a seismometer to model an earthquake |
High School Resources
| Title and Link | Summary of Resource |
|---|---|
| Maryland Geological Survey | Quick fact sheets on earthquake topics including earthquake formation, frequency, location, and depth |
| IRIS.edu Plotting Earthquake Epicenters | Lesson plan about earthquake magnitude and depth, gathering earthquake data throughout the year and plotting it on a map to figure out locations of the tectonic plates |
| PBS | Ready-to-go lesson plan that includes media resources and activities on many earthquake topics |
| Royal Geological Society | Lesson plan about earthquake formation, how plate tectonics relates to earthquakes, and the San Andreas Fault |
| PBS Lesson Plan on Earthquakes | Includes hands-on activities and discusses earthquakes and human impact, and how plate tectonics relate to earthquakes |
| Idaho National Laboratory | Instructions on how to build a shake table and how to use it to model earthquake impact on buildings |
| Serc.carleton.edu | Locating earthquakes using three monitoring stations |
| DEEDS | Uses a seismometer like Raspberry Shake to look at artificially generated earthquakes |
| Earthref.org | Module covers concepts including earthquake location, plate boundaries, seismic wave generation, seismometers, and earthquake forecasting |
Resources Sorted by Topic
General Information
| Title and Link | Summary of Resource |
|---|---|
| USGS General Earthquake Info | General information on earthquakes from the USGS |
| USGS Earthquake Animations | Collection of animations on earthquakes |
| SERC | Activity that shows how magnitudes work with earthquakes in a kinesthetic way, while also naturally teaching logarithms |
Earthquake Formation
| Title and Link | Summary of Resource |
|---|---|
| Earthref.org | Module covers concepts including earthquake location, plate boundaries, seismic wave generation, seismometers, and earthquake forecasting |
| PBS | Ready-to-go lesson plan that includes media resources and activities on many earthquake topics |
| Royal Geological Society | Lesson plan about earthquake formation, how plate tectonics relates to earthquakes, and the San Andreas Fault |
| Maryland Geological Survey | Quick fact sheets on earthquake topics including earthquake formation, frequency, location, and depth |
| IRIS | Lesson plan about earthquake magnitude and depth, gathering earthquake data throughout the year and plotting it on a map to figure out locations of the tectonic plates |
| Nasco | Ready-to-go lesson plan for Grades 6-8 that includes multiple activities as well as instructions to modify for remote learning |
| Shakeout.org | Topics include: What causes earthquakes, how do structures respond, how do tsunamis occur, and more. Resources include: videos and animations, games, coloring pages/books, photo galleries, maps, posters, etc. |
| Science Matters | Module contains fault activities, seismic wave formation, finding the epicenter, and earthquake preparedness |
| NEES | Lesson on how to use a seismometer to model an earthquake |
| TikToks | Teaches earthquake concepts in short 1-minute TikTok videos. Joint UNAVCO, IRIS, NSF project |
| Earth Institute | Earthquake video with animations |
| Kesler Science | Includes multiple methods of learning (ex: models and visuals) to understand how the Earth’s crust is being stressed |
| UNAVCO | An interactive lesson on how to better visualize the inter-relationships of geophysical and geologic processes, structures, and measurements with high-precision GPS monument data and solutions on Earth |
Plate Tectonics
| Title and Link | Summary of Resource |
|---|---|
| Earthref | Module covers concepts including earthquake location, plate boundaries, seismic wave generation, seismometers, and earthquake forecasting |
| Royal Geological Society | Lesson plan about earthquake formation, how plate tectonics relates to earthquakes, and the San Andreas Fault |
| PBS | Includes hands-on activities and discusses earthquakes and human impact, and how plate tectonics relate to earthquakes |
| PBS | Ready-to-go lesson plan that includes media resources and activities on many earthquake topics |
| Kesler Science | Includes multiple methods of learning (ex: models and visuals) to understand how the Earth’s crust is being stressed |
| TikToks | Teaches earthquake concepts in short 1-minute videos to serve as a lesson primer that uses a medium kids are familiar with, TikTok. Joint UNAVCO, IRIS, NSF project. |
| UNAVCO | Teaches earthquake concepts in short 1-minute TikTok videos. Joint UNAVCO, IRIS, NSF project |
| Exploratorium | Hands on activities to teach geoscience concepts related to earthquakes |
Earthquake Location
| Title and Link | Summary of Resource |
|---|---|
| Earthref.org | Module covers concepts including earthquake location, plate boundaries, seismic wave generation, seismometers, and earthquake forecasting |
| SERC | Locating earthquakes using three monitoring stations |
| PBS | Ready-to-go lesson plan that includes media resources and activities on many earthquake topics |
| Science Matters | Module contains fault activities, seismic wave formation, finding the epicenter, and earthquake preparedness |
| NEES | Lesson on how to use a seismometer to model an earthquake |
| Maryland Geological Survey | Quick fact sheets on earthquake topics including earthquake formation, frequency, location, and depth |
| IRIS | Lesson plan about earthquake magnitude and depth, gathering earthquake data throughout the year and plotting it on a map to figure out locations of the tectonic plates |
| TikToks | Teaches earthquake concepts in short 1-minute TikTok videos. Joint UNAVCO, IRIS, NSF project |
Practical Demonstrations
| Title and Link | Summary of Resource |
|---|---|
| Idaho National Laboratory | Instructions on how to build a shake table and how to use it to model earthquake impact on buildings |
| TikToks | Teaches earthquake concepts in short 1-minute TikTok videos. Joint UNAVCO, IRIS, NSF project |
| UNAVCO | An interactive lesson on how to better visualize the inter-relationships of geophysical and geologic processes, structures, and measurements with high-precision GPS monument data and solutions on Earth |
| Exploratorium | Hands on activities to teach geoscience concepts related to earthquakes |
Seismometers
| Title and Link | Summary of Resource |
|---|---|
| DEEDS | Uses a seismometer like Raspberry Shake to look at artificially generated earthquakes |
| Earthref.org | Module covers concepts including earthquake location, plate boundaries, seismic wave generation, seismometers, and earthquake forecasting |
| PBS | Ready-to-go lesson plan that includes media resources and activities on many earthquake topics |
| NEES | Lesson on how to use a seismometer to model an earthquake |
| IRIS | Demonstration of a seismograph |
| UNAVCO | An interactive lesson on how to better visualize the inter-relationships of geophysical and geologic processes, structures, and measurements with high-precision GPS monument data and solutions on Earth |
Earthquake Preparedness
| Title and Link | Summary of Resource |
|---|---|
| Ready.gov | Preparation for earthquakes overview |
| PBS Lesson Plan on Earthquakes | Includes hands-on activities and discusses earthquakes and human impact, and how plate tectonics relate to earthquakes |
| Science Matters | Module contains fault activities, seismic wave formation, finding the epicenter, and earthquake preparedness |
| Shakeout.org | Topics include: What causes earthquakes, how do structures respond, how do tsunamis occur, and more. Resources include: videos and animations, games, coloring pages/books, photo galleries, maps, posters, etc. |
| TikToks | Teaches earthquake concepts in short 1-minute TikTok videos. Joint UNAVCO, IRIS, NSF project |
