What are contour lines?

A contour line is like a invisible path on a hill that shows you how high or low it is at different spots.

Imagine you're playing on a big bumpy playground. If you draw lines around the parts of the playground that are all the same height, those lines would look just like contour lines. Each line is like saying, “I’m right here, and I'm as high up as my friends on this line.”

Think about a cookie with different layers, some parts are thick, others are thin. If you draw around the parts of the cookie that are all the same thickness, you’re making contour lines! Each circle or shape you draw shows where the thickness is the same.

If you walk along one of these lines, you won’t go up or down, it’s like walking on a flat path. But if you move from one line to another, you might feel yourself going uphill or sliding downhill, just like when you climb up or slide down a playground slide.

So contour lines help us see the shape of a hill or mountain, even without seeing it from above!