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!