Have you ever tried out an experiment with your kids that just flat-out failed? While preparing for our Mammoth Cave visit, the learning experiences took a nasty turn. Somehow the kids still made great connections to cave formations. We made it through and so can you!

Fail #1: Stalactite Rock Candy

In an effort to learn about stalactite formation, the kids and I attempted to make rock candy. Like many science experiments, failure is often part of the process. Still scratching my head at what went wrong exactly, but we created a monster.

Instead of yummy sugar crystals, we only grew mold…gross. Since this experiment failure, the boys have spotted rock candy at: the Mammoth Cave gift shop, an airport candy store, and a local state park. They claim that having not made our own successfully, we should definitely buy some!

Ironic that our Mammoth Cave tour didn’t even include stalactites and stalagmites because of the relatively dry conditions in this part of the cave. Whoops, well now we know. Looking forward to stalactite-spotting on the Frozen Niagara or Domes & Dripstones tour next time.

A month later, while hiking Bunkum Cave at Cordell Hull State Park, our guide pointed out some stumpy stalagmite formations. We learned that they are very fragile, and their growth can be stunted if touched. Our sad homemade formations didn’t even grow to resemble these stumpy ones.

Maybe the kids will get lucky and I’ll finally say yes to the rock candy some day.

Fail #2: Cave Formation Demo

As soon as I spot “education” or “curriculum materials” on the website of a place we are going to visit, I’m there. Mammoth Cave’s Clay Cave formation lesson plan looked interesting and I only needed to buy sugar cubes and clay. I fully appreciate an easy materials list. The clay represents the hard sandstone and the sugar cubes represent the softer limestone that dissolve when in contact with the water.

I picked BROWN clay and BROWN sugar cubes since it’s a CAVE experiment. Whoops, Pinterest Fail. Let me tell you that soggy brown clay + brown sugar combo looks like one thing: pooh💩.

Attempt #2: we tried again using pink Playdoh instead. The water dissolved the sugar cubes. The pink cave formed. We all learned our lesson: use your imagination and go with bright colors over the earth tones. No more wet, brown muck.

The Mammoth Cave Visitor Center has a great museum of the cave’s history and geology. While hunting for items from their Junior Ranger Packet, the kids noticed the explanation of the cave formation and connected it to our experiment. So, maybe it wasn’t a complete Fail after all.

My main takeaway is not to be afraid if every pre-trip experience is perfect. Learning through failure is just as powerful and for kids to see how we handle unexpected situations. We certainly had a few laughs!

Learning through Failure

Have you ever had a pre-trip plan fail? Share your experience in the comments.