Learn how soil is made from tiny bits of rock and organic matter, then dig, break rocks, rot leaves and test soil in a jar with Digby the mole.
Chapter 1: What is soil made of? Rock bits and organic matter
Press Play, then choose this chapter in the game.
Year 3 science · 1
Year 3 science · 1
Year 3 science · 1
Year 3 science · 1
Year 3 science · 1
See every Earth & Geography chapter in the chapter library
What the chapters cover in the national curriculum in England:
How Soil Is Made is an interactive science game that teaches children aged 7–9 how soil forms from tiny bits of rock and organic matter. It follows the Year 3 Rocks unit in the national curriculum for England.
Guided by Digby the mole, children break a boulder with rain, ice, plant roots and a river. Then they watch worms, woodlice and fungi rot fallen leaves into organic matter, the dark material made from things that were once alive. They see soil build up over hundreds of years and dig down through topsoil and subsoil. Finally they run a soil-in-a-jar test where heavy rock bits sink and organic matter floats.
Every step is spoken aloud with captions. A skippable warm-up revisits living, dead and never alive, and a final challenge checks what they remember.
Soil is a mixture of tiny bits of rock and organic matter, which is the rotted remains of plants and animals. It also has air and water hiding in the small gaps between its bits.
Rocks turn into soil very slowly as rain, ice, plant roots and rivers break them into smaller and smaller pieces. These rock bits mix with rotted plants and animals, and making just one centimetre of soil can take hundreds of years.
Organic matter is anything in soil that was once alive, such as dead leaves, twigs, roots and animal remains. Worms, minibeasts and fungi break it down into tiny dark crumbs that make soil richer for plants.
It is made for children aged 7 to 9 and follows the Year 3 Rocks unit of the national curriculum in England. Older children can also use it as a quick refresher on how soil forms.
The game has a short warm-up, five chapters and an eight-question challenge, and takes about 40 minutes to play through. Children dig up soil, break a boulder, help worms rot leaves, build soil layers and test soil in a jar.
TapLearnGetting it ready…
Great work on chapter 1! To open the next chapters, ask a grown-up to take a look.
To play this game, ask a grown-up to take a look. There are lots of free games you can play right now too!
Create a free family account and your child can play every chapter of every game for 7 days, with no card needed. Their progress is kept. After that, the free plan is free for ever, and membership is £6.99 a month if you'd like to keep every chapter.
That's all the learning time for today. Great work! Flip will be ready to play again tomorrow.