Types of Rocks Worksheet – Igneous, Sedimentary, Metamorphic

Q: Is there a types of rocks worksheet for 1st grade, 2nd grade or 3rd grade?

The sheet prints no grade. For young classes, Things to sort makes it 9, three under each heading, and Answer by has Cut and paste, so the rows are glued in place and not written.

All 24 rows

Igneous 8

basalt It hardens from runny lava out in the open. The dark plains on the Moon are basalt too.
erupted from a volcano Volcanic rock, whether it poured out as lava or was thrown out as ash and pumice.
granite Magma cooled slowly deep underground, so its crystals grew large enough to see.
lava cooled on the surface Extrusive, or volcanic, rock: basalt, andesite and rhyolite. Quick cooling leaves grains too small to see.
lava froth full of bubbles Pumice: gas bubbles were trapped as the froth cooled.
magma cooled underground Intrusive rock: granite, diorite and gabbro.
obsidian A lava flow chilled so quickly that it hardened as dark glass.
slow cooling and big crystals Deep underground, magma takes so long to cool that its mineral grains have time to grow.

Show all 24 rows (16 more)

Sedimentary 8

limestone Calcium carbonate that settled out of water, much of it as coral and shell.
mud settled on a lake bed Rivers carry mud into lakes and seas, where it settles; buried and pressed, it turns into mudstone.
pebbles cemented together Conglomerate: rounded pebbles with sand or mud filling the gaps.
sand grains cemented together How sandstone is made. Sand that is still loose is sediment, not yet rock.
sandstone Grains of sand, most often quartz, held together by a mineral cement.
shale Clay and silt settled as mud and were pressed until the rock would split into thin layers.
shells piled on a sea floor Many limestones start this way, and so does coquina, a rock of broken shells.
swamp plants buried long ago Coal: layers of plant matter that piled up in ancient wetlands.

Metamorphic 8

baked by nearby magma Hornfels: rock beside a body of hot magma is baked hard by the heat.
changed by heat and pressure What the word metamorphic means: an older rock took a new form deep in the crust.
changed without melting The rock stays solid the whole time. Had it melted, it would have cooled as igneous rock.
gneiss Igneous or sedimentary rock put under great heat and pressure; it shows light and dark bands.
marble It began as limestone. Heat and pressure made its crystals grow again; the veins and swirls come from clay or sand in the old rock.
pressed until minerals line up Pressure lines up the flat minerals, which gives schist its flakes and gneiss its stripes.
sandstone squeezed and heated Quartzite, a very hard rock.
slate It was shale. Squeezing deep in the crust made it harder and gave it the flat planes it breaks along.

How this list was compiled: List written for this site on 2026-10-16. Each row stands under one heading only and was checked that day against these pages. The U.S. Geological Survey's answers What are igneous rocks? (https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-are-igneous-rocks), What are sedimentary rocks? (https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-are-sedimentary-rocks) and What are metamorphic rocks? (https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-are-metamorphic-rocks): how each type forms, intrusive and extrusive rock, slow cooling and large grains, gas bubbles trapped in lava, sediment carried by rivers into lakes and oceans, clastic rock named by grain size, metamorphism without melting, foliation, rock baked by an intrusion, and granite, diorite, gabbro, rhyolite, andesite, basalt, obsidian, sandstone, conglomerate, limestone, shale, schist, gneiss, quartzite and marble as examples. The U.S. National Park Service pages Igneous Rocks (https://www.nps.gov/subjects/geology/igneous.htm, for pumice), Sedimentary Rocks (https://www.nps.gov/subjects/geology/sedimentary.htm, for coal and coquina) and Metamorphic Rocks (https://www.nps.gov/subjects/geology/metamorphic.htm, for slate and hornfels). The English Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/), whose text is under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license: Igneous rock, Sedimentary rock, Metamorphic rock, Granite, Basalt (the lunar maria), Obsidian, Pumice, Sandstone, Limestone, Shale, Mudstone, Conglomerate (geology), Coal, Marble (the veins and swirls), Slate, Gneiss, Schist, Quartzite and Hornfels. Licence: own work

How it works

This types of rocks worksheet prints a word box of twelve rocks and clues, such as granite, shale, slate and lava froth full of bubbles, above three headings: Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic. A key is the last page.

Read the full guide

The rock behind each clue

Nine rows are rocks by name: granite, basalt, obsidian, sandstone, limestone, shale, marble, slate and gneiss. The other fifteen say how a rock forms, and for most the list under the tool names the rock: pebbles cemented together is conglomerate, swamp plants buried long ago is coal, sandstone squeezed and heated is quartzite, baked by nearby magma is hornfels, lava froth full of bubbles is pumice.

For a sort of rock names alone, type three lines in the box, such as Igneous: granite, basalt, pumice.

Questions and answers

What are the 3 types of rocks?

Igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is melted rock that cooled and hardened. Sedimentary rock is sand, mud, pebbles, shells or plant remains pressed and cemented into stone. Metamorphic rock is older rock that heat and pressure changed without melting it.

Is there a types of rocks worksheet for 1st grade, 2nd grade or 3rd grade?

The sheet prints no grade. For young classes, Things to sort makes it 9, three under each heading, and Answer by has Cut and paste, so the rows are glued in place and not written.

Can one type of rock turn into another?

Yes. Any rock can melt and cool into igneous rock, wear down into sediment that hardens into sedimentary rock, or be changed deep underground into metamorphic rock. The paths between the three are the rock cycle.

Why is coal a sedimentary rock?

Because it forms from layers of material that pile up and are buried, as other sedimentary rocks do. The material is plant matter from ancient wetlands, not sand or mud.

Can I save the types of rocks worksheet as a PDF?

Print worksheet opens the print window, and its Save as PDF choice makes a file of two pages: the word box above three empty columns, then the columns filled in.