This week with my Year 8’s I used salt dough to get the students model glacial landscapes. I used salt dough because it was cheap and non-damaging to the classroom.
Ingredients for the Salt Dough
- 1 Cup Table Salt
- 2 Cups Flour
- 1 Cup Warm Water
Mix the flour and salt together – gradually mix the water in to salt/flour mix. Mix the dough until it achieves the desired consistently. The dough I made was slightly wet so maybe next time I would use slightly less water. It then needs to be refrigerated overnight.
I used one of the above batches for two students; this gives a large orange sized amount of dough for each student. This took about 30 minutes to make 12 of the above batches for 24 students. The cost was less than £3 in total. I individually wrapped each student sized portion of dough in sandwich bags.
Students Work
I had the students use the dough to model a number of different glacial features. This was to assess how well they had understood the preceeding lessons on glacial landforms.
This was a messy activity. If I did it again I would use an art room or at least a room without a carpeted floor! However on balance the students improved their knowledge of glaciation so their knowledge improved!