Salt Dough Maps

To further our discussion on geography, today we made salt dough maps of a state or country that we were interested in learning more about.   To begin I pre-made salt dough using 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt and gradually added water until the dough was thick but not wet.

I then found a topographical map of Italy on the internet which I printed and cut out.  I rolled out my dough on a piece of cardboard and laid the cut out map on top of the dough and traced the outline with a toothpick.  I removed the excess dough and set it aside.  Next, I removed the map from the salt dough and used excess dough to create the mountains of Italy.  Then I used green, blue, brown, and black paint to color my map to show the mountains, land, and water throughout the country.

Here is my map of Italy:

I used toothpicks and note cards to pinpoint some of the major cities in Italy.  

Here are some of the maps created by my classmates:

I think salt dough maps are a great way for students to be hands on with their learning.  I would use this activity in my classroom and allow students to choose their country or state within the parameters of what we are learning about.  This project is a great way to integrate Social Studies and Art.