We are over at the Crayola website today with a lesson that could delight your sensory-seeking students. Artistic learners will love it as well. The lesson involves having students analyze different landforms and match them to textured materials (e.g., wax paper to represent waterfalls, sandpaper to represent the desert). Once they decide on a range of materials to use, they create a bulletin board together. You will hopefully find that students have fun with the project and -if you choose the right materials- have an easier time remembering characteristics of and differences between the landforms featured. In order to make the associations stick, be sure to have some conversations with learners about proposed materials and why or why not they might work for particular parts of the scene.
Since it is a group activity, different students can take on different roles. Some might write up short explanations of the landforms (and list places where each might be found), others might label the board, and creative students may want to add details using different techniques and art forms (e.g., sculpture, collage).
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