3D Geographic Landforms
Create a tactile 3D map of a favorite state, country, or imaginary continent using homemade salt dough, teaching geographical features like mountains and rivers.
- Takes
- 1–2 hr
- Your setup
- 10 min prep
- Ages
- Ages 6–8
- Mess
- Some mess
- Cost
- $
- Where
- Indoors
How to do it
- 1Mix 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt, and 3/4 cup of water to form the salt dough.
- 2Roll out a flat base on the baking tray representing the landmass.
- 3Use remaining dough to build up features like mountains, valleys, and plateaus.
- 4Poke depressions for lakes or indentations for rivers.
- 5Bake at 250°F until hardened (check frequently, usually 2-3 hours), or air dry overnight.
- 6Once cool, use paints to color code the map (blue for water, green for lowlands, brown for mountains).
What they're practising
- Spatial Reasoning
- Fine Motor Skills
- Geography Introduction
- Modeling