Teaching landforms in your classroom? If you’re searching for a quick and easy way to help students learn about landforms—without needing lots of extra supplies—you’ve come to the right place! This post shares simple sorting and compare/contrast activities perfect for introducing landforms. All you’ll need are some landform flashcards or pictures, making this activity both fun and hassle-free!
Materials
All you need for this simple learning activity is some good landform flashcards or pictures. I recommend downloading and printing my landform three-part cards. Optionally, you can also purchase my water features three-part cards. You’ll receive high-quality illustrations of each landform on printable flashcards, plus you’ll support my blog with your purchase!
Or, if you’re looking for EVEN MORE landforms materials for your lessons, I recommend checking out my complete Landforms Unit. It includes the landforms flashcards, a printable version of the directions in this blog post, and additional activities and printable materials.
Step 1: Get to know the common landforms
Using your landform flashcards, work through the following steps with your students to introduce the common landforms.
- Look through the whole-card flashcards together.
- Read the definitions on the information cards and learn about how each common landform is formed.
- Practice matching landform pictures to landform names with the picture-only and word-only flashcards.
- Can you spot any of these landforms on the coastal and desert landscape posters?
Landform Sorting Activities
Arrange the flashcards into different groups:
- Landforms that are surrounded by water and landforms that are not surrounded by water.
- Landforms made of loose sand or soil and landforms made of solid rocks.
- Landforms that stick up out of the earth and landforms that go down into the earth.
Which landforms…
Which landforms…
- Are flat on top?
- Are pointy?
- Are steep?
- Are gently sloping?
- Are hollow inside?
- Can be found in your local area?
Compare and Contrast
Look for some similarities and differences between each pair of landforms:
- Island and peninsula
- Peninsula and isthmus
- Mountain and volcano
- Mountain and hill
- Hill and sand dune
- Valley and canyon
- Cave and volcano
- Mesa and mountain
- Cliff and canyon
How did it form? (advanced!)
Find the cards for the landforms that are formed by:
- Erosion
- Deposition
- Volcanic activity
- Plate tectonics
(Hint: some landforms can form in more than one way and may fit into more than one category)
What’s Next?
Continue reading about the different types of landforms (complete with examples of each type!) You can also read my post about water features.
Study this topic with Wild Earth Lab!
There’s no need to scramble to put together the perfect landforms lesson – I’ve already created it for you! This set includes all the printable materials you need for studying landforms in your classroom or homeschool!
Explore more lessons from Wild Earth Lab:
If you enjoyed this post, I know you will love trying my other printable science and nature units in your classroom too!
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