Around the World!

What better way to bring geography into your classroom then with salt dough! Salt dough is something made from flour, water, and the obvious salt. As this dough begins to form, it would remind someone of pizza dough. For this activity we used salt dough to create maps. Maps are very complex, and it may be hard for younger children to grasp the concept of them. However, if you create salt dough maps, the children can create mountain ranges and rivers, and they can feel and see the difference in "terrain" on their map.

Not only can salt dough be used to make maps, students can also create other things that represent their country by using salt dough. For example, our group created a mask that represented Brazilian culture, as well as the flag.

Here is a picture of brazil. We made the country green, the mountains purple, the water blue, and the fish yellow!

This is a picture of the Brazilian Flag.

This picture represents a mask that the Brazilian's where during something called Carnival.
This is a celebration that happens in Brazil. 70% of the people that attend this event are from other countries. It represents a time when people of other cultures can get together and celebrate.


This activity would be wonderful to incorporate into your classroom. As the teacher, you could integrate social studies, fine arts, math, science, etc. into this lesson. Children could research a certain topic about a different country, and then use their creativity to portray a piece of artwork. The children could then explain their artwork to their classmates, as well as explaining the topic to their classmates that they researched.

Below I attached a link to a social studies blog, that a boy created about how he used salt dough in the classsroom he was in.

Salt dough in the classroom!