Grades 2–4
Fast or Slow Changes?
Sort eight changes to Earth’s surface into fast and slow, then draw one.
Science worksheet · Landforms and erosion
Erosion Experiment
Pour water on bare soil and on soil with plants, compare how much washes away and explain how plants help.
- Grade level
- Grades 2–5
- Time
- About 30 minutes
- Answer key
- Not needed: answers vary
- Kids practice
- Landforms, Weathering and erosion, Earth changes
What kids do
Printed on the sheet:
- You need: 2 trays or boxes, soil, a patch of grass (or a thick layer of leaves), a cup with holes poked in the bottom and water. Do it: fill both trays with soil and put the grass on one. Tilt both trays the same way. Pour one cup of water over each.
- I predict the most soil will wash off the tray with
- How much soil washed away? (a lot, some, a little)
- What the water looked like
- Soil with grass
- Draw both trays after the water.
- How do plants help stop erosion?
Teacher tip
Use the same amount of water and pour from the same height each time.
How to use it
- Build landforms in a sand tray or from playdough.
- Pour water over a sand hill to show erosion.
- Start with a two-minute “I notice, I wonder” talk about the picture on the sheet.
Watch for
Weathering breaks rock; erosion moves it. The words get mixed up.
Talk about it
- What landforms are near our school?
- How could we find out if that is true?
Take it further
Make a landform map of an imaginary island.
US Letter, prints well in black and white. Free for home and classroom use: print as many copies as you need.
More landforms and erosion worksheets
Grades 2–4
Landforms
Label a mountain, valley, river, lake, island and plain on a picture, then draw the landform near you.
Grades 3–5
More Landform Words
Match peninsula, canyon, plateau, delta, glacier and dune to their meanings.
Grades 3–5
Weathering or Erosion?
Sort ten changes into weathering (breaking rock) and erosion (moving it), then explain the difference.
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