The Stone Forest

Leo walked on the dry, red dirt. He was at the Petrified Forest with his mom.

He saw a big log on the ground. It looked like an old tree trunk.

Leo ran up to touch it. "Ouch!" Leo said. "This wood is hard!"

His mom smiled. "That is because it is not wood anymore," she said.

"It is made of solid stone." Leo stared at the colorful log.

It was shiny like a rainbow in the sun. "How did a tree turn to stone?" Leo asked.

Mom sat down on the dusty path. "A very long time ago, this place was wet," she said.

"Big trees grew here next to rivers. When the trees fell, they sank into the mud."

Leo listened closely. "Then, a giant volcano blew up far away," Mom said.

"Ash from the volcano covered the trees. It kept the wood safe from the air."

"Under the ground, water washed through the wood," Mom said. "The water had tiny bits of rock in it."

"The rock bits filled the tiny spaces in the wood. Slowly, the wood rotted away."

"But the hard rock stayed behind," Mom said. "It took millions of years."

Leo touched the cool stone tree again. "So it is like a rock copy of a tree!" he said.

"Yes," Mom said. "It is a beautiful stone tree." Leo thought the science felt just like magic.