7 Fun Plate Boundary Activities to Bring the WOW Factor to Your Classroom

Interested in spicing up the plate boundary activities in your middle school lesson plans? Teaching kids about plate boundaries can be an exciting and engaging experience for both teachers and students. In this post, I will share seven awesome and engaging activities to help your class get a better understanding of the world’s tectonic plates and the forces that shape them.

First, I will share some introductory activities to get students to WONDER and become intrinsically motivated to learn more about plate tectonics. Second, I will share an interactive lesson to dive deeper into the topic, discuss vocabulary, OVERCOME OVERWHELM, and so much more! Finally, I will share some plate tectonic activities for students that will WIDEN their knowledge on the topic as well as give them a chance to show off what they have already learned!

Read more to determine which plate boundary activities to add your lesson plans!

Plate Tectonics Introduction Activity

Here are some fun plate boundary activities to help your students WONDER!

Plate Tectonics Puzzle Activity

I have seen so many activities such as these that are supposed to be completed after the lesson, but I think that a puzzle is a great plate tectonics inquiry activity to get students thinking about how scientists believe that continents shifted over time.

The easiest way to do this is to cut out and obtain pieces of each continent. You can make several little puzzle packets and put them into Ziplock bags, paper bags, or envelopes.

Give the puzzle pieces (continents) to groups or pairs of students. Briefly mention that scientists believe that the continents were once connected into one big continent call Pangaea. Then, they can use their puzzle pieces to try to create the supercontinent.

After they are finished:

1. Have students compare their world maps. How are they similar, and how are they different?
2. Ask them: What evidence did you use to construct the map in this way?

There are a lot of resources online where you can find this continent puzzle activity. Here is one from the American Museum of Natural History. I like this one because of the organism evidence that it provides.

You can choose to keep it simple as I discussed above, or you can completely do the lesson provided in the link. It takes two 40-minute class periods.

Alfred Wegener Song

What better way to introduce continental drift, the plate tectonics theory, and plate boundaries than to use a corny song for middle school students!

This video from the Amoeba People sings an introductory song that explains how Alfred Wegener thought that the continents were once one piece of land and drifted apart. No one believed him until after he passed away.

This is an exciting way to get students wanting to learn more. It shares just enough information to explain how this thought came to be about, but there is so much more to learn.

Your students will get a kick out of this video.

 

Pictures and/or Videos of Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and Mountain Ranges

This is an introductory activity that will allow you to see what students already know and tap into their prior knowledge.

You can show students videos of earthquakes, volcanoes, mountain ranges, and other tectonic plates phenomena and just have them to brainstorm how these things happen or came to be!

Have a discussion with the class and see what they come up with. They may have more questions for you after the discussion, and this is right where you want them! You want them to WONDER about the topic. Now, they are intrinsically motivated to learn more.

Here are some videos that you can show!

Krakatoa Volcano Eruption

Home Surveillance Videos during Earthquake

Flying Over the Alps (You can show a clip.)

Plate Tectonics and Plate Boundaries Interactive Lesson

How many plate boundaries are there? How do plate boundaries move? What happens at plate boundaries? Why is tectonic plate activity important for the planet? These are some of the questions that will be answered in the next activity!

Interactive lessons are lessons with embedded activities that help students retain the science content in an enjoyable format. The lessons are broken up into chunks for the topic to be better understood. After each chunk of information, there are embedded questions and activities for students to process the information.

 

In this Plate Tectonics Lesson, students will learn about Alfred Wegener and Pangaea, continental drift, the plate tectonics theory, tectonic plates, the different types of boundaries, and the sub-categories of these boundaries. They will get a lot of information from this fun lesson!

The embedded plate boundary activities included are KWL, vocabulary matching, drag-and drop activities, exploring plates, and more!

Plate Boundary Activities to Widen Student Knowledge

 

Here are some great plate boundary activities to WIDEN student knowledge!

Create a Plate Collision Model

Time for a plate tectonics STEM activity. Have students to create a plate collision model to illustrate how two plates interact when they meet. Put two plates together, and then use other materials to show the different tectonic forces in action. Your students will have fun creating this model while understanding more about tectonic collisions!

You can also create models using graham crackers. There are ton of ideas online! This is a tried-and-true plate boundary activity that students love. Who doesn’t love food?

Boundary Zone Virtual Field Trip

You can also set up a virtual field trip to “visit” different landforms at plate boundaries using Google Earth.

Some of the places your students can visit include:

• San Juan Ridge
• Himalayas
• Mid-Atlantic Ridge
• Andes Mountains
• San Andreas Fault
• Mount St. Helens
• Hawaii

These are fun locations for students to check out. You can just give the students a list, or you can create a virtual tour on Google Earth. You can have them to identify the type of plate boundary and so much more. As with any activity, you can make it as easy or as complicated as you would like.

Plate Boundaries Mapping Activity

You can also play a game to dive into maps of Earth’s tectonic plates and boundaries.

1. First, divide your students into small groups.
2. Second, give each set of students a map of Earth’s tectonic plates. In addition, create cards with different scenarios (i.e., whether or not there are earthquakes or volcanoes, the direction of mountain ranges, or rock types in the area).
3. Third, students will place the cards on the tectonic plate map at the plate boundary zone where the scenario may occur.
4. Fourth, have students discuss their choices and defend them.
5. Finally, review any discrepancies that students may have.

Check out this similar activity in the Bright in the Middle Shop and TPT.

I hope you found all of these plate boundary activities helpful and exciting!

 

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