Kids Elevation Map Project

Clay and String

• Fourth- through eighth-graders can make a map from a large clay model of a mountain or volcano. With this activity, the teacher inserts a center-alignment hole and carefully slices through the clay landform with a piece of string. After tracing the removed section directly onto paper, the top piece will be small, but as the instructor moves down the mountain, each successive piece becomes larger. When completed, a basic topographic map of concentric circles is revealed.

Multiple Landforms

• The instructor must provide some sort of model that allows students in grade eight and above to gather the information needed to make a map. An effective indoor method consists of taking a square or rectangular-shaped piece of cardboard and dividing the surface into equal-sized squares with a pencil and straightedge ruler. The result should resemble the lines in a chessboard, but before creating the model landscape, each line needs to extend to the edge of the cardboard. One side is labeled with a sequence of letters, while the adjacent edge receives numbers beginning with one.

Clay Model

• An indoor clay or play dough model should have several mountains and/or hills of differing elevations. With the terrain built, the teacher marks the summit of each geographic feature with an "X" and a corresponding numerical value that reflects the relative height of each feature. The various mountains or hills need at three least elevation circles or contour lines beside the summit, and the whole unit should have four compass bearings -- east, west, north and south.

On Graph Paper

• By creating a scale between the squares on the model and those on graph paper, a 1-1 ratio might occur, but it's more likely that two or more lines on the graph paper will equal one square unit on the model. Proper interpretation of the circular contour lines as they intersect the grid that lies beneath the clay proves paramount. As it's impossible to see through the clay, a string gently stretched across the surface of the clay model allows students to assign each point of intersection with a corresponding letter and number. Eventually, these intersecting points are transposed to the graph paper.