Learn fifteen landforms with these landforms flash cards for kindergarten to 4th grade: painted picture fronts, words and meanings inside, a practice page and an answer key included.
Mountains, valleys and more
First graders learn that Earth's land has different shapes, and each one has a name. A mountain is very tall and pointy, a hill is smaller and rounder, a valley is the low land between them, and an island has water all around it. They also meet plains, lakes, rivers and oceans, and match pictures to names. The click moment is when a child looks at a photo and says, "That's a valley, because it's low between the mountains!"
Little learners need to see, touch and name landforms. These moves make it easy.
Flash a landform card and have kids shout the name, then make the shape with their arms. A pointy mountain, a flat plain, a round hill. Quick rounds every day build the vocabulary fast.
Why it works: pulling an answer out of memory makes it stick far better than rereading it, one of the strongest findings in learning research (Dunlosky and colleagues, 2013).
Try it withLandforms Flash CardsFlash CardsOpen it →Give each child a lump of playdough and a tray. Call out a landform and have them build it. Pour a little water in to make a lake or turn a lump into an island.
Why it works: kids understand an idea best when they touch it, then draw it, then write it, the order the U.S. Department of Education recommends for elementary math.
Show real photos of landforms and have kids sort them into groups: tall, flat or surrounded by water. Real pictures connect the words to places they might visit.
Why it works: children learn more from words and pictures together than from words alone (Mayer, 2009).
Most 1st graders learn mountains, hills, valleys, plains and islands, along with water like lakes, rivers and oceans. They learn to name each one and describe its shape.
A mountain is much taller and usually steeper, often with a pointy top. A hill is smaller with gentle, rounded sides.
Use pictures, models and movement. Building landforms with playdough or sand and acting them out helps kids remember the names.
Point out hills, rivers and lakes on drives or walks. Look at photos from family trips and name the landforms together.
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