A Homeschool Mom’s Guide: How To Make a Salt Dough Map

This homeschool mom’s guide on how to make a salt dough map shares how this is a perfect hands-on learning option for geography. Great for fun afternoons of creating together and making memories!

We made a salt dough map as part of our Tapestry of Grace homeschool history arts and activities assignment.

A Homeschool Mom’s Guide: Salt Dough Map Recipe

We made our salt dough map on a Friday after lunch, mixing up the flour, salt and water recipe. I opened up a SunButter box and covered it with tin foil. The children each scooped out a portion of the salt dough mixture and each chose a few terms from the Tapestry list. It was a family effort.

We talked about or looked up the definitions:

• tributary
• source (river)
• mouth (river)
• peninsula
• island
• plateau

I asked the children to cooperate and draw a map of their imaginary land. I like the question mark island  🙂

• canal
• sea
• bay

We reviewed the names of continents and oceans then labeled them on our maps.

• summit
• delta
• port
• mountain range
• inlet
• cliff

Yes, ooey gooey hands-on geography!

Then we set the salt dough map aside to dry for a week. I stuck it on top of a bookshelf.

The next week we painted our salt dough map! Even Littlest Guy joined in the fun. He painted swirls and darker ocean. We used simple tempura paints.

Then we set it aside to dry for another week. No rush, right? We tend to save Tapestry arts and activities projects to do all in one day each week.

Learning About Local Geography with Me On The Map

Another day, we read the book, Me on the Map. This little book is a simple look at maps, starting with the map of a little girl’s room, then street, then town, then state, country, continent.

We made our own map of our house, upstairs and down.

The next time we turn our attention to our salt dough map, we’ll make little flag type labels for our land formations. Even the volcano (which wasn’t included in our history plan – it was a Hodgepodge addition.)

Making a salt dough map is a perfect project to save for our annual Homeschool Expo in the spring. What a fun way to learn geography in a hands on way!

More Hands on Geography and Homeschool History Studies

Looking for more ideas for your geography and history studies? Here are some fun ideas for multiple ages.

• Hands on Geography for Multiple Ages – These hands on geography activities also help the child see the big picture. To think of the Creator. Sometimes, a hands on geography project helps children to fix a portion of the history timeline in their minds.
• Make Geography Fun with Chalk Pastels – Are you looking for a unique way to get your kids excited about their homeschool geography? Maybe you have a hands-on learner that just needs something a little extra for their cartography lesson. Here is a unique way to learn about maps, continents, countries and world landmarks.

• Homeschool Map Skills: Chart Your Way to Learning – Spatial thinking is an important development for children. Map skills in young children are as vital as building blocks and puzzles for a young mind because all of these help build spatial awareness. Map drawing, or cartography, is a skill that gets better with practice. As my children get older, I like to incorporate map tracing and even freehand drawing as they learn about different geographical areas. This method has helped them retain information that otherwise would have remained in their books.
• What I’ve Learned Homeschooling With Tapestry of Grace – One of those wonderful benefits of homeschooling is continuing to learn right alongside your children. History, a love of art, composers, nature study. I just love continuing education. For many years now, Tapestry of Grace has truly woven together all the learning in our home. All ages learning the same topics, on their age, grade and skill level.

First published August 2011, updated October 2024