Tag: geography

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Playing with the World Map Floor Puzzle

We refer to our laminated wall map at least a couple of times a week and have completed many activities using it.

We find having a map close to the dining table means we can refer to a country or town named in the news or general discussion. This helps Daisy in particular, locate an area in the world and often helps us increase our geographical knowledge.

We have noticed that locating the continents are still a struggle so an activity that focuses just on continents was needed.

Rose loves puzzles and will sit for an hour doing puzzle after puzzle. Referring to the box for help is a new concept to her and she enjoyed matching puzzle pieces to the picture on the front of the box.

Learning to complete the outside of the puzzle first, is a reminder I often give when I can see frustration beginning. This puzzle is aimed at age 6+ but with Daisy`s help Rose was able to participate too.

Standing on the world!

When the puzzle was built we identified each continent and talked about some characteristics and countries within the continents.

The World Map Floor Puzzle has 33 pieces and covers 2 x 3 feet when assembled. It is made of sturdy card, is easy to clean and includes an illustration:

I can see this being copied and used as Daisy’s geographical knowledge develops. The puzzle is available from Quality Classrooms and another option is the Canada Map Floor Puzzle if you want to focus more locally.

What ways do you teach geographical knowledge and understanding?

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Where does our food come from?

We received a gorgeous shiny new map and decided to put it to use immediately!

Here we are; continent, country and city located.

We located the other continents and familiar countries, then talked about the characteristics of the map:

  • Colour used to show a countries border
  • Grids
  • Symbols
  • Legend/Key

The concept of the whole world being illustrated on a 40′ x 28″ map is a difficult thing to explain to a six-year-old. I kept the language simple. This map is part of a two map package: “Laminated Canada/World Rolled Map“, a great set for teaching many geographical concepts.

We have been collecting labels from fruit and vegetables for quite a while (thanks for the idea Glenna) and sticking them on the kitchen cupboard:

At this time of year we rarely buy fruit and vegetables anywhere but locally, or BC for apples and cherries!

During the winter we do treat ourselves to fruit from further afield.

The map is laminated and huge, giving us lots of room to add information.

Locating the country the fruit or vegetable came from, took a little while in some cases (my central American geography is sketchy).  Not all the stickers had the produce listed so I recommend adding stickers at the time of washing or eating fruit/vegetables.

This activity could easily be used in the classroom to develop map reading skills and global awareness. Would your children be willing to bring in produce stickers from home?

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Learn Geography with Global Address Nesting Boxes

Daisy is struggling to figure out where she fits into the world. She knows she lives in Canada but the smaller details are fuzzy.

“We have to drive all the way from Kuwait to Canada for my ballet”
stated Daisy as we were about to leave the beach (in Manitoba)!

Yikes, I thought we had the whole ‘where we live’ thing well explained. Apparently not! My best friend, who I met while teacher training, currently teaches in Kuwait. Her home is in Manitoba, Canada and we spent time there with her during the summer and recently for a holiday. On the last day of our holiday, my husband was getting ready to leave with the kids when Daisy exclaimed her dismay at the prospect of a long drive back to Winnipeg. For her, 1 hour is still long. She seemed to think she had to travel all the way from the Middle East to Winnipeg. We will be focusing on Geography activities over the next month.

I found this idea at Mommy Moment and thought it was great. I am new to Montessori but am finding I have used a lot of the theory and teaching ideas in the past without knowing. I am enjoying learning about this style of education.

I collected these boxes we had kicking around the house (yes I am a hoarder; it is the teacher in me) and made sure they all fitted inside each other.

You need:

Boma is visiting from Luxembourg so she and Daisy worked together on this activity. There was a little bit of friction initially as you can see here on Daisy’s face. They are very similar characters. They both wanted to do the same part of the activity. Boma is an amazing artist in clay and therefore a perfectionist. Daisy is too. As soon as I saw the conflict starting I began to sing I’m Not Perfect from A Mom with a Lesson Plan‘s blog. I love this song and I am hoping my 2 Flowers will too! Daisy identified with the song and relaxed and Boma became aware of how Daisy was feeling and tried to help her work through it.

Boma made the 2 flowers from scrap card.

Daisy decided to make the Rural Municipality look like a cow. We saw some gorgeous cows at the weekend. I will share what we got up to next week.

By the time we got to the Canada box we were singing The Wonderpets Theme Song. What’s gonna work – teamwork!

Gluing the napkins on. I will put a layer of watered down glue over the top to secure it all in place.

This Manitoba flag was a challenge, or rather the Union Jack Part of it was. This was the 3rd attempt but everyone was happy. Again a little glue will make it last longer.

Our Global Address Nesting Boxes:

  • Daisy and Rose
  • Live in a Pumpkin coloured house
  • In an RM where cows live!
  • In Manitoba
  • In Canada

Check back to find out what we do with this creation.