English Hillside Horse

The chalk hills of England create unusual landscapes. Visit Wiltshire, where a giant horse is carved into the hill. Science, history, and geography come alive!

• 1.

  Research the area around Wiltshire, England, where, on a low hill, ancient people carved the figure of a giant horse through the topsoil to reveal the chalk below. Look at photographs of the hill and surrounding countryside.

• 2.

  Cover your work area with newspaper. With Crayola® Washable Tempera Paint and Paint Brushes, create a landscape background and foreground of sky and hills. Dry.

• 3.

  With white Crayola Chalkboard Chalk, draw a figure of a horse or other animal on the side of the hill. Add trees, bushes, a house, barn, fence, or other features with Crayola Fine Tip Markers to complete your landscape.

Benefits

• Students gather information about the English countryside by researching books and the Internet.
• Students recognize that parts of England's topography consist of hills made of chalk that are covered by layers of grass and soil.
• Students create a landscape that represents chalk figures similar to the giant horse carved in chalk near Wiltshire, England.

Adaptations

• Discover other English chalk figures, especially the Iron Age Warrior, and recreate them on paper using similar techniques.
• Research to find other intriguing landmarks, found throughout the world, whose origins are not known.
• Find out about other carvings made in the sides of hills and mountains, such as the gold Buddha in Thailand, Stone Mountain Park in Georgia, and the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota. What do you think inspires people to make these gigantic figures?