Salt dough maps are a great way to teach geography. I have heard from many about dough that never dries. Thankfully, that has never been a problem for us.  First I mix the dry ingredients (2 cups flour and 1/2 cup salt), then add just enough water to make a moist, pliable dough.  Look for consistency similar to homemade bread or pizza dough...not too wet nor too dry. Knead the map dough until smooth.

    In preparation for salt dough map projects, I collect cardboards from old boxes of various sizes.  I usually print out a map and glue it onto the cardboard. Then I give each of the kids dough for them to start shaping on top of the land areas.  They leave the water areas alone. From their studies and a bit of research on topography, they use more dough for mountains and less for valleys. They don't need to get too scientific with this.  I prefer they get  general idea.  While the dough is damp, it is best to poke the necessary spots with a small metal skewer for labeling later.  If the project must be put aside for awhile, that is fine. We put the dough in a ziplock bag and seal it until its next use.  When the land forms are completed, we set it aside to dry and store the remaining dough in a ziplock bag and place in the freezer until the next project.

     The dough usually air dries in a day.  Then the kids paint the landforms: blue for water, green or brown for land, white for snow. When done, they cut out bits of construction paper to write names of locations. These are glued to toothpicks and then the tips are dipped in glue and placed in the premade holes for labeling.

     I must confess, sometimes we'd forget to premake the holes for labeling. Then I'd get a small nail and gently tap the proper locations for the toothpicks. This always created cracks in the land. That is okay and might even be worthy to do on purpose, allowing the cracks to represent fault lines since the earth is actually covered with fissures!   A few years ago we watched an interesting IMAX movie on earthquakes which sort of drove home the point.     

     My kids made lots of maps throughout their first year studying TOG. That was the year we studied Ancient history. They made maps of every continent. Here are some of them.

Ancient Egypt (my daughter's is on the left; my son's is on the right)...

 Ancient India (my son's is on the left; my daughter's is on the right)...

Ancient China (my daughter's is on the left; my son's is on the right)...

 North and South America (while studying the Ancient Mayans)

Ancient Greece (my daughter's is on the left; my son's is on the right)...

Ancient Rome (my son's)...

Ancient Rome (my daughter's)...