During this lesson your students will craft miniature mountains from lumps of clay. They will then translate their mountains into topographic maps. When students know what goes into creating a representational map, they are more likely to understand how to analyze the geographic information in other maps. The student can also verbally analyze the spatial distributions and patterns shown on the resulting topographic map.
Maps are more convenient.
Show students a topographic map of your area. Help them to understand the isolines and be able to pick out land features on the map by the spacing of the isolines. Break it into lumps, placing each on a sheet of drawing paper. Distribute the materials to students or groups and encourage them to shape their clay into mountains. Once each mountain is complete, mark its peak with a dot.