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Year 6

Coastal erosion

I can understand how coastal erosion affects people’s lives.

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New
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Year 6

Coastal erosion

I can understand how coastal erosion affects people’s lives.

Download all resources
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Share activities with pupils
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These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. The coastline is eroded by the actions of the wind, waves and human activity.
  2. Erosion can create landforms such as caves, arches and sea stacks.
  3. Hard rock is eroded slowly and creates headlands, soft rock erodes quickly and creates bays.
  4. Maps can be used to identify headlands and bays formed by hard and soft rock.

Keywords

  • Waves - Waves are the movements of energy across water.

  • Erosion - Erosion is the process of Earth’s surface, e.g. rock or soil, being worn away and transported from its original site.

  • Geology - The geology of an area is its physical structure and what rocks and minerals exist there.

Common misconception

Children may believe that waves are cause by tides.

Tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon . Waves are caused by wind blowing over the sea.


To help you plan your year 6 geography lesson on: Coastal erosion, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

To help children understand the importance of geology on coasts, you could provide some hard rocks, like granite, and softer rocks, like boulder clay, for children to feel and experiment with.
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This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Which of these is a physical coastal feature?
pier
Correct answer: mudflat
lighthouse
port
Q2.
Which of these is a human coastal feature?
estuary
spit
saltmarsh
Correct answer: port
Q3.
A place with ‘point’ or ‘head’ in its name will probably be a
Correct Answer: headland
Q4.
Which coastal feature is usually found in a deep water bay or estuary next to flat land?
pier
lighthouse
Correct answer: container port
Q5.
Coastal land would be used for tourism when there is:
Correct answer: attractive or unique physical features such as beaches
a deep water bay or estuary next to flat land
a large stretch of protected inland water with lots of sheltered, deep-water
Q6.
Bays can form natural that can be used as a safe place for fishing boats.
piers
lighthouses
Correct answer: harbours

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
the movements of energy across water.
Correct answer: Waves are
Erosion is
Geology is
Q2.
is the process of Earth’s surface, e.g. rock or soil, being worn away and transported from its original site.
Correct answer: Erosion
Transportation
Deposition
Q3.
Waves are formed by
the gravitational pull of the moon
the movement of boats
Correct answer: the wind blowing over the surface of the sea
Q4.
The size of the wave depends upon:
Correct answer: the strength of the wind
the distance from the equator
Correct answer: the length of time the wind has been blowing
Correct answer: the depth of the water
Q5.
Which two of these factors create large waves?
Correct answer: the strength of the wind
the temperature of the wind
the spin of Earth
Correct answer: the length of time the wind has been blowing
Q6.
Erosion by waves can create features such as along a coastline.
Correct answer: caves and arches
caves and beaches
beaches and arches