Use clay to create landform sculptures.
Teaching students about geology often involves studying types of rocks, sands and landforms. While most of this instruction is done through observation, there are several hands-on art projects that can be completed as part of a classroom geology unit, from building your own landforms to designing your own sandy masterpiece.
Landform Sculptures
Sculpt different landforms to display in the classroom or home by sculpting homemade dough into the desired shape, such as a mountain or a plateau, before coating the landforms with plaster of Paris. Once your sculpture has dried, paint it with acrylic paint to resemble the landform. If you created an island sculpture, place your landform in the middle of a plate and pour water around it for a more realistic look, suggests ProTeacher.
Geology Collage
Create a geology collage by providing children with a selection of newspapers and magazines to browse. Have them cut out any pictures of geology-related items, such as a sandy beach, a wall made of stone or a volcano and let them glue their geology objects onto a piece of paper making a unique collage. Give older children a more specific goal, such as creating a collage out of specific types of rocks or landforms.
Sand Art
Use colored sand to create a sand painting art creation. Using a paintbrush, have children place a thin layer of glue on a sheet of sturdy construction paper in the area where they want the sand before sprinkling the sand in the desired area. Add different colors to fill the paper with sand. While younger children may simply enjoy making art from the sand, teach older children about rock layers by having them create a replica of the rock layers found in a landform, such as the Grand Canyon.
Tags: older children, rock layers, types rocks
