Monday, April 06, 2009

Landforms




I have been intending to make the landform work for Josh for well over a year now. I even bought the plasticine and store brand containers. Well finally this week I did it. I really like how it turned out. It was a bit more difficult than I expected...sheesh is that clay hard! But well worth the effort.




In the above picture you can see how a peninsula is just the cutout portion of a gulf.

All you need is...

I just divided the clay into 5 equal amounts and smashed them into 5 containers. Flattened it and used the cards to give me an idea of how to cut. I took out the unnecessary clay area carefully and put it into another container. (The landforms are all opposites like a lake is the opposite of an island. So you can use the clay you remove from the lake to be the island landform.)



I plan to present these soon having Josh pour a bit of water into each to show the actual landform. I also printed off cards https://edutccom.ipower.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=93 that show a more photographical picture of a landform. We will add small animals and fish to this work to further extend his understanding.


Landform Lesson!


8 comments:

Becky said...

Ooh,I've been wanting to do this, too!

So, what are the advantages plasticine has over playdough?

Shannon said...

The Plasticine does not get hard and is pretty expensive. The playdough will dry up and crack and is cheap. If you want it to last use the plasticine!

I read that you can microwave the plasticine for a few seconds to soften it up. Of course I read that after I finished the project.

Shannon said...

Ooh and I found the Ressurection eggs!

Becky said...

Wait, so the point of these landforms are to have them around to look at for a while, right? Or is it usually a one-time thing and forget about it deal. Just wondering why people spend the big bucks for the plastic landforms that you fill with water...

You found the eggs right in time!Happy Easter!

Shannon said...

I am not sure why you would want the expensive form ones...I guess if you have a school size budget you might as well but the plasticine works great for at home. I do suppose a rough child could easily damage them but they are also pretty easy to fix. So???

Might be fun to make landforms with your child using playdough...especially if he/she is really into the whole thing! A smaller version would be fun.

Melissa said...

I've been wanting to make these for a long time, but I couldn't decide what kind of container to use. It looks like you used disposable storage containers, right?

Shannon said...

Melissa~
Yes, they are the Ziplock type containers, generally used for food storage. I bought mine, if I remember correctly, at a dollar store. They were sets of 3 for a $1. They are pretty flimsy, e.g. the lid does not really snap on, but they do the job!

Alycia in Va. said...

Thanks for sharing. I've been meaning to do landforms for a while now too.