The youngsters at the Island School are studying the country of Spain for this year's cultural study. I went in to help the 3rd grade class create a 3-D topo map of the country, which we did in two steps.

Day one: we created the map on foamcore, starting with a outline of the country and paying close attention to a few printout topo maps to guide us. Using paper clay (cellu-clay) they covered the entire contry with a thin coat, then added layers to build up to the highest mountain ranges.

The kids also made some small scale flags for the major cities of Spain.

We gave the map two days to dry, and then we went in to paint the features using the color topo maps for reference.

Check out the finished piece!

After the paint dries, the kids will add the flag markers and other important landmarks as they continue their month long study of Spain.