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[SilverMoon]

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Edited June 16 by SilverMoon

[Guest]

Geopuzzles

[bethben]

What would help kids learn their countries the best?

[Kfamily]

Around that age we read an assortment of books, but it sounds like he is probably past those.

One of the books we read is How We Learned the Earth is Round by Patricia Lauber.
 

The following year, we read a couple of Jack Knowlton books and Geography from A to Z ​is one of these.

Year Two students create a notebook based off of this book using a composition book of story paper (top 1/2 is blank for illustrations) and also create land forms and bodies of water to correspond using modeling clay. If you wanted to skip the notebook part and just use Montessori 3-part cards or use the lessons involving the modeling clay, that might be hands-on fun for him. There are several sites which offer free printable cards for Montessori land forms and bodies of water and also places to purchase really nice ones.

 

Here is a link for a lesson outline for using modeling clay:

 

Introduction to Land and Water Forms in a Montessori Classroom

 

And, of course, the books by Holling C. Hollings are beautiful...so detailed. :)

 

 

Also, this book by Aleksandra Mizielinska: Maps and the companion activity book look very interesting....if not this year, maybe next. :)

 

 

Edited January 22, 2017 by Kfamily

[SilverMoon]

On 1/22/2017 at 8:34 AM, bethben said:

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Edited June 16 by SilverMoon

[SilverMoon]

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Edited June 16 by SilverMoon

[smily]

We loved the Geography Game from My Father's world Exploring Countries and Cultures. You could easily make a home made version.

It's a map (one for each continent) but instead of the names each country is labeled with a number. Then you have a pile of cards with a country's name on it. If you correctly identify the country to the number on the map, you get a point.

[Prairie Dawn]

Our most-used, favorite geography supplements are a world map shower curtain and map placemats. Great for easy, everyday map exposure when they aren't doing anything else. :)

 

Another thing to look into is the geography songs CD. The music is a bit cheesy, but catchy and I find myself with the tunes (with countries and locations and geography details) stuck in my head. The link has audio samples to see if it's something he would enjoy.

 

Eta: Also, flags placemats.

Edited January 22, 2017 by Prairie Dawn

[alisha]

Seterra and Shepherd Software. One is downloadable, the other is played online and are basically the same thing. It tells you the country, you click on it. Or a higher version, you drag it to the correct place. One of them also has capitals, rivers and a couple other landforms, I think.

[wendyroo]

My boys all love when I help them make a "map" for their hot wheels cars. We use chalk on the driveway or marker on butcher paper or painters' tape on the floor. We talk about how a city looks laid out on a map, relative size of features, etc. I have them add a compass rose so we can talk about driving  cars north from the candy store to the beach, etc.

 

I've also laid out big butcher paper and suggested that we all draw a map of a zoo or a park or a grocery store. I never aim to create a map of a particular place we've been, but rather a fictional example of a type of place that the kids are familiar with. It is always very free form; when we started our zoo map, the first thing they thought we should include was the concession stand, but then they added animal pens completely surrounding it, so we eventually had to add a bridge so people could walk over the camels to buy concessions.

 

Wendy

[cintinative]

They are really hard to find anymore because they are out of print, but the 10 Days in games are great. I have all of them. There is 10 Days in Africa, 10 Days in Europe, 10 Days in Asia, 10 Days in the Americas, and 10 Days in the USA.  10 Days in the USA was taken over by another company but I have heard the newer version is more cheaply made. You could try Ebay or the sales board on Board Game Geek.   My class loves these games.  https://boardgamegeek.com/geekmarket/search?q=10+days

 

 

We are loving the game Flag Frenzy in my Geography games class.  Very fun and fast game. https://www.amazon.com/Flag-Frenzy-Educational-Geography-Geotoys/dp/B007BF50Q6

 

We do the GeoPuzzles also. They are hard enough that even the 5th graders enjoy them.  https://www.amazon.com/Geotoys-6-GeoPuzzles-One-Box/dp/B00J688VHG/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1485129750&sr=1-1&keywords=geopuzzles

 

We play a lot of different bingo games I made up also. We do have the World GeoBingo game but I also made up bingo games for the different continents that we use. 

 

As far as map skills, Scholastic Success with Maps went well here. We just wrapped up grade 5 and have done grades 1-5. I got it during their $1 sale as a download.  https://shop.scholastic.com/shop/en/tso/Scholastic-Success-With-Maps-Grade-1

 

Edited January 23, 2017 by cintinative

[AdventuresinHomeschooling]

We LOVE workbooks called Maps, Charts and Graphs. They teach a lot of map skills along with geography, and my kids never complain to do them. They like them, and they are inexpensive and fun.

[SilverMoon]

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Edited June 16 by SilverMoon

[mymomtime]

This is what we've been doing...I don't know if it is high interest enough for your child.

 

I am using the book "Give Your Child the World" by Jamie C. Martin as a reference to find books about the different areas of the world.  We are just about done with Africa, but we did one or 2 countries a day and read a little bit about the country (looked at the map, read about major features of the land, maybe a famous person, looked at the flag) very generally and then colored the country on the map.  He also traced the continent of Africa daily.  I have not expected him to draw it free hand at all.  I'm going for the basics and general knowledge at 6/7 years old.  Then we read from the books suggested in the book or I find others at the library.  One was an anthology and we just read one short story a day. We also read from the Usborne World Geography book on Africa, one double page spread until the section was finished.  I did have him tell me one or two things he remembered after I read it to him and I wrote it down.  I am only homeschooling one, so we do lots of teacher intensive stuff because I can.  I think he has enjoyed it.  He can locate countries on Africa or at least knows their general area.  He really enjoys the picture books and stories we have read from around Africa.  He then likes to find the country on the map.  So connections are being made.

 

Next up is Europe.  My plan is to do one continent every 6-8 weeks until we've hit all 7 (Antarctica will not be 6-7 weeks, and I will probably do United States and Canada separate)  Planning is still being figured out.