Show me your continent blobs!

[Wee Pip]

I want to start making continent blobs with the kids today (you know, Leigh Bortins, The Core, style). It became blatantly obvious that we need to do something for geography when the kids didn't know where Africa was (eeeeeek!!!!) So I thought Continent Blobs would be a good place to start. I tried making one last night and feel really unconfident about my blobs (I know, right?) Anyone want to show me their continent blobs? LOL. You show me yours, I'll show you mine;)

[Susie in MS]

I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about so I am :bigear:.

[Satori]

I'll post the blobs we made later tonight. I'm away all day right now.

 

In the meantime, hoping others share theirs!

[OK Family]

I really don't know how to post ours that we draw. I have my kids draw the 5 great circles first, helps with our placement. My oldest is only 7 1/2 so we don't have anything real detailed yet. It has been actually a few months since we've been blobbing.

 

I do have a dotted continent blob for my preschool kids to trace.

 

Oh and I forgot we also laminted the continent we were learning about in our classical conversations class and would trace it with dry erase markers.

Edited May 16, 2011 by OK Family
need to add more comment

[Kalmia]

With an older kid, I just skipped the blobs and went straight to copying using some of the lines of longitude and latitude as a guide. I have him doing the world map once a week. I use 11 by 16 paper to make it A LOT easier. I trace the equator, tropics of Capricorn and Cancer, and the antarctic and arctic circles in pen on the paper. Then I add the prime meridian, and 50 degrees and 100 degrees E and W of the prime meridian.

 

I've explained how to use the lines to place the continents properly and that by focusing on the land within each "box" formed by the crossing lines, it is easier to draw accurately.

 

It took about 10 weeks, but now his continents are in the right place (they are all higher up on the map than you'd think!) and their outlines are fairly accurate. I will continue to have him copy this map for another few months and then try to start trying to do one continent at a time from memory.

 

This activity takes about an hour each week.

 

I am so convinced this method is superior to map coloring and labeling, that it will result in much greater understanding and retention of world geography, that I now trace the latitude and longitude lines from the maps in his Human Odyssey text and have him draw and label those as well.

[ScoutTN]

:lurk5:

 

We'll be starting on this in July and I'd love to see how others do it!

[Wee Pip]

OK, so I just put our end of the week Continent Blobs up on my blog:) You don't have to read my whole blog post (unless you wanna), but you can scroll down and see our handiwork. I definitely gained in confidence as the week went on. The 8yo pretty much avoided blobs and cried during the 10yo's practice time (and I didn't force it on her; she just has a bad attitude) BUT, by Friday, she was eager to dive in and make some blobs! If the above link doesn't work - you can go here:

http://teachafish.blogspot.com/2011/05/weekly-review-516-520-2011.html

[Heidi @ Mt Hope]

Well, may I show you my boys' blobbing? :lol:

 

I fold the paper to mark the Equator, Prime Meridian, Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn, Arctic Circle, and Antarctic Circle.

 

My 4 yo's CC tutor had the BRILLIANT idea of drawing more geometric shapes for the continents. Somehow this is so. much. easier for both my 4yo and also 6 yo who hated the map drawing. Much more concrete than blobs. My 4 yo still likes me to help him (I point out where he needs to draw his lines and he makes dots first then connects them with lines). The first blobbing is my 6 yo with initials or abbreviations for labeling. The second is my 9 yo. The third is my 4 yo. (All looking at a map, but no tracing.)

 

Let's see if the attachments work.

[Hedgehogs4]

this has nothing to do with your actual post...but when I looked at your thread title, I read "Show me your continent bxxbs!" :lol: i definitely had to do a double-take.

 

sorry 'bout that that...

[MeaganS]

this has nothing to do with your actual post...but when I looked at your thread title, I read "Show me your continent bxxbs!" :lol: i definitely had to do a double-take.

 

sorry 'bout that that...

 

Me too! I'm glad I'm not the only one. :lol:

[Wee Pip]

this has nothing to do with your actual post...but when I looked at your thread title, I read "Show me your continent bxxbs!" :lol: i definitely had to do a double-take.

 

sorry 'bout that that...

 

Homeschool Moms Gone Wild!!! LOL!

[Wee Pip]

Well, may I show you my boys' blobbing? :lol:

 

I fold the paper to mark the Equator, Prime Meridian, Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn, Arctic Circle, and Antarctic Circle.

 

My 4 yo's CC tutor had the BRILLIANT idea of drawing more geometric shapes for the continents. Somehow this is so. much. easier for both my 4yo and also 6 yo who hated the map drawing. Much more concrete than blobs. My 4 yo still likes me to help him (I point out where he needs to draw his lines and he makes dots first then connects them with lines). The first blobbing is my 6 yo with initials or abbreviations for labeling. The second is my 9 yo. The third is my 4 yo. (All looking at a map, but no tracing.)

 

Let's see if the attachments work.

 

I like this soooo much better than blobs! Great idea! Thanks for sharing:)

[motherdear]

This is too cool!

[mathnmusic]

Well, may I show you my boys' blobbing? :lol:

 

I fold the paper to mark the Equator, Prime Meridian, Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn, Arctic Circle, and Antarctic Circle.

 

My 4 yo's CC tutor had the BRILLIANT idea of drawing more geometric shapes for the continents. Somehow this is so. much. easier for both my 4yo and also 6 yo who hated the map drawing. Much more concrete than blobs. My 4 yo still likes me to help him (I point out where he needs to draw his lines and he makes dots first then connects them with lines). The first blobbing is my 6 yo with initials or abbreviations for labeling. The second is my 9 yo. The third is my 4 yo. (All looking at a map, but no tracing.)

 

 

Wow, this is brilliant! How do you begin to teach your children to do that? Was there a particular geography that was helpful?

[Wee Pip]

Wow, this is brilliant! How do you begin to teach your children to do that? Was there a particular geography that was helpful?

 

I got the idea from the book The Core by Leigh Bortins. In it, she tells how she taught her kids Geography. She started out by having them label the lines on a piece of paper and placing continent blobs within those lines. Later, they work more detailed on one continent, getting the shape, learning the countries...Also, once they get their blobs placed, they can start to learn the shapes, and mimic a real map, learning to draw it from memory. It was simply a process of looking at a good map and trying to draw it yourself, and eventually taking the map away and drawing it from memory.

[SonshineLearner]

Good Idea, Heidi!! :) I like the geo shapes! :)

[Jay3fer]

We've done this a few times - I think it's something we could revisit about twice a year. I fold the paper also. However, my dd doesn't like blobs, so the last time we did it, she drew more careful outlines and hers came out looking better than mine did!

 

Here's one we did last year. After we did that, she also drew this one on her own (it's in the top-right corner of the page).

 

This was not blobs, but I was impressed bc she drew the continents freehand on a papier mache globe. (I found out afterwards that you can paste on outlines to make your life easier...!)

[Aloha2U]

Well, may I show you my boys' blobbing? :lol:

 

I fold the paper to mark the Equator, Prime Meridian, Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn, Arctic Circle, and Antarctic Circle.

 

My 4 yo's CC tutor had the BRILLIANT idea of drawing more geometric shapes for the continents. Somehow this is so. much. easier for both my 4yo and also 6 yo who hated the map drawing. Much more concrete than blobs. My 4 yo still likes me to help him (I point out where he needs to draw his lines and he makes dots first then connects them with lines). The first blobbing is my 6 yo with initials or abbreviations for labeling. The second is my 9 yo. The third is my 4 yo. (All looking at a map, but no tracing.)

 

Let's see if the attachments work.

 

That is a BRILLIANT idea! Thanks for sharing... and kudos to your tutor!