Loess Children

 Loess is a wind blown and deposited silt from the glacial ages found in many areas once

 covered by sheets of glacial ice.  When the glaciers retreated (melted back) large areas of transported materials were left behind.  The wind subsequently picked up the smaller silt sized and finer particles and deposited them in thick layers, especially along the downwind side of water courses when they dried out in the winter.

Shown above is such a deposit of loess in Sangamon, County Illinois.

Map from Illinois State Geological Survey

As ground water percolated through the deposit of loess it would dissolve calcium carbonate, and then recrystallize to solidify particles into nodules or concretions which are known as Loess Children or the German Loess Kindren.
Native peoples would collect these concretions, which sometimes rattled with smaller concretions inside, as toys for their children.

Pictured below are some Loess Children we collected at the site above.

The large dark rock is a glacial tillite

Almost vertical cliffs formed by the interlocking particles of loess

Swallows often dig out the soft loess to form their nests

Loess concretion for sale on Etsy