Landforms and Bodies of Water

I like this set for the moment when students need to see how geography words describe real shapes. It includes a snowy mountain, hill, canyon, valley, plain, plateau, island, peninsula, river, stream, lake, pond, ocean, sea, desert dunes, cactus, beach, rocky coastline, waterfall, and hiking trail. The farm, village, boat, hiker, and beachcomber images help connect physical features to the people who use and live near them.

These pictures fit grades 1 through 5 units on landforms, bodies of water, map reading, and human-environment connections. I'd use a "build a place" station where students draw one landform and one body of water, then add a route for the hiker or boat and label every feature. The canyon and plateau are especially helpful for comparing a steep cut with a high flat surface. Color art supports sorting mats and wall vocabulary. Blackline art gives students room to shade, label, and add a sentence about how water or land shapes daily life.