Hands-on activities and geospatial technologies have been shown to support students’ learning of basic geography and geoscience concepts (i.e. topographic map reading and 3D visualization of landscapes) while providing a fun factor to improve student engagement. The objective of this research was to determine if and to what extent students’ learning of these concepts can be improved through incorporation of hands-on play with Play-Doh® and LEGO® and geospatial technologies, specifically drones. The project team conducted six months of biweekly, collaborative instruction at Comstock Middle School in southwest Michigan incorporating in-class activities such as drawing mental maps, creating contour lines of model landscapes in water boxes, constructing 3D landscapes from 2D topographic maps, building and operating small drones, observing drone flight and learning about geospatial data creation from drone-collected aerial images, and more. Pre- and post-test comparisons revealed a 14% increase in overall student scores, which is a statistically significant difference and improvement in student performance. Our instructional approach improved students’ knowledge of topographic mapping and landscape concepts. Beyond providing a broad overview of our pedagogical approach as well as specific curricula and lesson plans, we further outline challenges and limitations.