Kids: let’s learn about landforms, with a clever paper art project that incorporates all of the types of landforms on a single poster. This geography craft is a great component in a unit on landforms for kids.

Landforms for Kids

Earth science is the study of the physical characteristics of our planet and atmosphere. One of the first aspects of earth science schools present is landforms for kids. Landforms are all of the natural features of the earth’s surface. Using different textured paper, kids will create a beautiful display of landforms and label them accordingly. Gather different textured paper: corrugated cardboard, foils, sandpaper, velvety paper, glitter paper (for snow or water features), scrapbooking paper (we had paper with grass, pine forest, and clouds), and other earth-toned sheets. Our local craft store has 50% off scrapbooking supplies every now and then, so I snagged some really unique pages. Other supplies we used are scissors, rubber cement, and small poster boards as our backdrop.

Together we made a list of ALL of the landforms for kids to use in their project: everyone contributed ideas and we kept the list out as we worked (see below for our full bilingual list of landforms: English and Spanish!). Starting at the top or the bottom, begin to cut 1-2″ strips of the different papers. We laid them all out first, and only glued them on once we knew how it would look and where the different landforms would go. Consider the layers as you look over the list: where would you find a cave? And island? A glacier? How could a canyon be formed? Which landforms are taller and should be in the background?

After the landforms were all placed out on the poster board, the kids glued them down with rubber cement (or as my kids say “old-fashioned glue…” apparently I am too old to have used Elmer’s glue:). I love rubber cement because the papers don’t buckle or warp. I had to help the younger kids fit in the layers and different landforms, and teach them what a peninsula was, etc.

When we had all of the landforms in place, I printed out their list (see below for the list of landforms for kids in English and Spanish!) and had them cut and paste to label the features. I am always trying to increase their vocabulary in Spanish, so anytime there is a chance to label objects, we do it in both languages.

Doesn’t it look great? As we cut out and labelled the features, we discussed the landforms, their shapes, special features, and their formation. Their landforms posters turned out so well, I think I will laminate them so they last longer!

Bilingual List of Landforms for Kids: Spanish and English