Provide each child with a topographical map whose contours are fairly far apart, no more than a quarter inch at the narrowest points. Have him trace each contour onto a sheet of craft foam, then cut out the foam shapes and glue them together in a stack according to the original map. This will create a rough model of the area represented by the topographical map. To ease tracing, you may want to create separate cutouts of each contour line and let children share them.
A topographic profile is a cross-section of a piece of terrain created from a topographical map. Print a topographical map onto sheets of graph paper, leaving the bottom half of each page empty. Instruct students to draw a straight horizontal line through the topographical map to indicate where their "slice" will be. At each point where the slice meets a contour line, students should draw a vertical line down and graph the height indicated by that contour line against the horizontal position of the intersection. Have students connect the dots to show the cross-section of that slice of terrain.
Create a clay model of mountainous territory, then work together to represent it with a topographical map. Take the opportunity to brainstorm with the children what techniques could be used to accurately represent the shape of the terrain. Lead them first to consider techniques that would work only on the model, like painting stripes at even elevation increments. Then discuss methods that would work for real-life terrain, such as measuring the angle between two vertically aligned landmarks. This discussion can also provide an opportunity to discuss the uses of trigonometry in real life.
To help students develop a more intuitive understanding of the shapes represented by contour lines on a topographical map, create flash cards representing the shapes of everyday objects with contour lines. Create rough contour line representations of various items seen from above, such as an easy chair, a pine tree, a pillow, an open book or a car. Show students the flash cards one by one and have them try to guess what object is represented.