Landforms Mobile

Hop from islands to mountains, from permafrost to tropical rainforests. Explore glaciers and coral reefs. Display the diversity of the Earth’s landscape!

• 1.

  In small groups, research various landforms such as hills, mountains, plains, valleys, oceans, lakes, peninsulas, rivers, islands, glaciers, coral reefs, deserts, and rain forests. Find each landform in several different parts of the world. Identify the similarities and differences in these landforms, and how they affect life in that part of the globe.

• 2.

  Choose several landforms that are most appealing to your group. On white construction paper, draw detailed postcard-size pictures of each landform. Use Crayola® Colored Pencils, Crayola Construction Paper Crayons, and Crayola Washable Markers. Cut out with Crayola Scissors.

• 3.

  On small pieces of paper, or on the back of your drawings, label each landform with name, a sentence describing that landform, and locations where it is found.

• 4.

  Punch holes in the top of each paper. Tie papers to yarn cut in varying lengths. Hang the landforms and their labels from a cardboard tube to create a mobile.

Benefits

• Students research landforms, identify regions of the world where each can be found, and compare and contrast them.
• Children discover how geographic regions of the earth are affected by differing landforms and changes in the Earth’s crust.
• Students create a mobile with drawings and explanations of various landforms.

Adaptations

• Students with special needs may work best in integrated small groups. Provide ample pictorial resources, combined with field experiences, to help students visualize the landforms.
• Advanced students respond to questions how landforms affect animals and the food available in the region. Add animals to the mobiles.
• Encourage higher-level and critical thinking by challenging students to choose in which region they would want to live and not want to live. Why? What would life be like there?
• Explore how land forms change over time. Consider phenomena such as earthquakes, floods, and volcanoes.
• Older students research climate zones such as the permafrost, frozen tundra, temperate areas, and tropical regions.