Year 4 Mountains and volcanoes: what, where and why? worksheet

“How mountains are made” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 4 geography unit “Mountains and volcanoes: what, where and why?”, for children aged 8 to 9, and takes about 23 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 6 to 11 of the year, 6 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

How mountains are made

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 4 · Geography · about 23 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can explain how tectonic plates pushing together can build mountains.

A Look back3 min

1.
Which compass point is opposite east? Circle the answer.
northwestsouth
2.
Circle the grid reference of the tree. Letter first, then number.
C22CB2C3
3.
Circle the grid reference of the shop. Letter first, then number.
A22AB2A1

B Watch me, then you4 min

Two plates press towards each other under a wide valley. Watch what the land does.

A wide valley with rocky ground rising on both sides

Watch me

The plates move towards each other.

The crust is squeezed and folds up.

Over millions of years, a tall mountain forms.

Now you

1.
Two plates press together. What happens to the crust? Circle one.
it is squeezed and folds upit floats awayit turns into sea
2.
When plates move towards each other, what do we call it? Circle the word.
convergedivergestay still

C Your turn8 min

Read each clue. Join or circle the type of mountain it describes.

A row of folded mountain ridges with pale peaks

1.
Join each clue to the type of mountain it describes.
squeezed up into a tall, narrow peakcracks along lines of weakness, square sideshot rock pushes up from below, rounded top
dome mountainfold mountainfault-block mountain
2.
The Sierra Nevada in the USA formed when the crust cracked and a huge block was pushed up. Circle the type.
fold mountainfault-block mountaindome mountain
3.
Which mountain forms when hot melted rock pushes up and the ground bulges? Circle the type.
fold mountainfault-block mountaindome mountain
4.
The Alps in Europe formed when two plates pushed together and the rock crumpled into folds. Circle the type.
fold mountainfault-block mountaindome mountain

Say it out loud: What word in each clue gave you the type?

D Spot the mistake3 min

Sam says: “This 480 metre hill in the UK is a mountain, because it is high land.”

1.
In the UK, high land is usually called a mountain only if it is over 600 metres. Is Sam right? Explain why in one or two sentences.

E Think deeper4 min

1.
Explain why a fold mountain has a pointy peak but a dome mountain is rounded.

How did it feel?

Which part of today's learning surprised you most? Tell a grown-up.

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

How mountains are made · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. west North and south sit at the top and bottom of the compass, not opposite east. Ask your child to face east, then look straight behind them.

2. C2 If your child circles 2C, they have read the number first. Go along the bottom to the letter, then up to the number.

3. A2 2A means your child read the number first. Go along the bottom to the letter, then up to the number.

B

1. it is squeezed and folds up

2. converge Diverge means the plates move apart. Ask your child to put two hands together, then slowly pull them apart.

C

1. squeezed up into a tall, narrow peak → fold mountain; cracks along lines of weakness, square sides → fault-block mountain; hot rock pushes up from below, rounded top → dome mountain If your child joins the rounded clue to fold mountain, ask what pushes the ground up. Fold mountains are squeezed, not pushed up from below.

2. fault-block mountain Ask your child what happened to the crust. A crack with a whole block lifted up is the clue for a fault-block mountain.

3. dome mountain If your child circles fault-block, ask whether the surface cracked. In a dome mountain it does not, because the rock pushes up from below.

4. fold mountain

D

1. Look for: Says no, because 480 metres is below the 600 metres a UK mountain usually needs, so it is a hill. If your child says yes, they think any high land is a mountain. Read the height in the question again and compare it with 480 metres.

E

1. Look for: fold mountain squeezed and folded into a narrow peak; dome mountain pushed up from below into a rounded shape

Words to use

Say“Where do the plates push, and what does the land do when they do?”

Instead of“Tell them mountains are just very high hills.”

After the sheet

Put two folded towels on a table and push their ends together slowly. Which part looks like a mountain, and which part is the plate?

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

5 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

Mountain features and cold(with a plan)
Comparing UK peak heights(with a plan)
Inside a Volcano(with a plan)
Living Near Volcanoes(with a plan)
Eruptions that travel far(with a plan)

Every Year 4 geography worksheet

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