Every year thousands of students participate in the same old geography lesson which includes researching a state or country and filling out a worksheet that describes things such as size, state flower, flag, and so on. This year I was able to find a new way of doing something similar but much more hands on and exciting. It involves using “Salt Dough” and creating a map out of the dough and then having the creator determines what he or she thinks is important to show others. This allows for so much more creativity and allows students to be encouraged to think outside of the box, which is something that can be forgotten about in any busy classroom. My group decided to highlight the provinces in Costa Rica. Some of my classmates decided to indicate things such as rivers, major bodies of water, population levels, forests, and many other factual things about their country. Some great things about creating salt dough maps are that it is hands on, allows for creativity, and you have a sense of pride when doing it because it is so much more than filling out a paper. Everyone really enjoyed this project in our class and it seemed that everyone got a lot of information out of it as well. This is something that is super easy and can be done at school or even at home if going on a vacation, talking about your community or state, a map of somewhere you are going such as a park, a relative from a different state, or just about anything!
Here are the directions on how to create your very own salt map from cooks.com
Mix 2 cups flour, 1 cup salt and 3/4 cup water. (Add a little water at a time). This should make a very thick dough. Add more flour if needed. Spread dough over map you've outlined on heavy cardboard or plywood. Shape mountains, valleys, plains, etc. You may dip fingers lightly in water to smooth out rough places in dough. Allow to dry and paint with tempra. This project is not for a rainy day because salt draws the humidity and your map runs. Don't forget a color key for your landforms.
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