How do you teach geography?

[hypatia]

So far I've shown my daughter countries on maps, shown her flags and I give her the name of capitals, but it's very formal and I'm not sure she really retains anything or whether it makes sense to her.
What do you use?
She loves to use the Ipad. I'm not aware of any apps except 'Stack the countries', I read the questions to her but she can't play on her own obviously.

Thanks!

[fma001]

Start out teaching her about the continents. Once she has become familiar with them, start to focus on one at a time. Get a good picture atlas for her to look through with you. Finding good books for preschoolers isn't easy. So, videos can be very helpful.

http://www.brainpopjr.com/socialstudies/geography/ has some really cute videos. My kids 6 and 3 love them but you do have to pay a subscription fee to view them. http://preschool.earlyknowledgeforkids.org/socialstudies_continents.html is a free preschool/K curriculum that introduces the continents, so that may help as well.

[DadDude]

We looked at lots of country-shape-and-capital presentations at that age, they are useful.

Stack the Countries, too.  Just as good as Stack the States.

Do world, U.S., and continent puzzles.  There are several series of these, almost all are good.

Spin the globe with your eyes closed and play "let's take a trip": say, "I'm going to take a trip, let's go riiiiiiiight...there!"  Then you name the closest interesting thing to what you've landed on, maybe say how you'll get there from your home, or simply name the place and spin again.  Hours of fun.

Probably the True Books geography books are out of your child's range, but maybe not.  But something probably in her range is the Rookie Read-About series, which is good, except when it is a little dull--strengths are big pictures and clear language.  I'm sorry we didn't know about those when H. was that age.  He's beyond them now.

I have several geography presentations that introduce basic concepts such as maps and different countries.  More of those would be great.  Others have made comparable things.  There was also a nice landforms/geography terms presentation that we used, I recall.

Some ruminations about teaching geography are on my blog, search "geography" at the link below.  But you probably wouldn't find those things useful because they're about teaching geography to older kids.

[susankhan]

I really want to get this for my children .   I have to save up for it though...      http://tenderheartpress.com/index.html#     

Susan Khan

[Maquenzie]

Introtogeo is a really fantastic iPad app.

We have an inflatable globe that we use for "continent ball" or "country ball".  If playing continent ball, you toss the ball and when you catch it, you say any continent.  It doesn't matter if it's already been said (helps the younger ones just mimick you until they know more).  Same game can be played with countries. We don't really try to point them out yet or anything.

Here's a catchy continent song:

http://www.cdbaby.com/m/cd/shelleymurley

Track 1, you can listen to the whole melody sung once.



There are also some really great countries videos on YouTube, search for kidstv123 countries of the world.

[Skylark]

Geography is important for us! Our immediate family spread over 5 continents! So along with learning 4 languages, we felt it is important to give our kids early start on geography.

Here are few things that we do:

We watch short documentaries on different countries and talk about it

We do flashcards  - countries, facts, flags ( not very regularly though)

We listen to music from different countries, and do dishes from different countries

The best aid so far for us was the floor world map, like the one on this link ( excerpt ours has less pieces, so it is easier to put together, I think they come in two different configuratios) http://store.metmuseum.org/games+puzzles/giant-world-map-floor-puzzle/invt/80000612/

 A friend of our got it as a gift from Metropolitan Museum – the best gift ever!

We have it periodically set up in our living room, and it stays on the floor as a play mat for a few days in a row. Both of my kids just love playing on top of it and study different countries. Just the fact that it is something they can play on, and not afraid that they can damage ( like paper maps), large clear divisions of countries, pictures of native animals or famous places, along with the national flags for every country, makes this worth every penny!

My 17 month old knows his continents and about 7 different countries that he can show of hand, I think. My almost 3 years old can play on it for up to an hour at a time, telling all she knows about different countries, able to show even such countries as Yemen, Turkey, Taiwan, HK, Mongolia, etc. We usually connect abstract concept of seing the country on a map with something they can relate to, -- like “E was in mommy’s tummy in Taiwan, then we flew to USA, California, where E was born”, or “Your new friend we met on the plain was from Yemen, remember she told you about it, etc.” or “Papa grew up in Macao, it is right next to China, and it is a very small island”, or “Look Panda’s live in China”

We also play different games with finding countries and flags on this big map.

We also have world globe, but floor map worked best for us.

Over the years we also collected books about different countries, photography books that concentrate on culture, art books ( featuring national architecture, museums, arts). We look through these books, read some parts, and sometimes daddy or I, or grandma tell stories about living in those countries -- these are their favorite bedtime stories ( along with Bible stories) These are not really children's books ( with a few exceptions), but we love using them and it works for us.

There are also some clips on youtube, that you can find about different countries and geography.

Here is the one from DVD we got recently, that my 17 month old son just loves ( we got it for Christmas last year, but lost it and as we were moving I just discovered it and kids liked it a lot):

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/AFEhCfvlob8&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/AFEhCfvlob8&rel=1</a>

You tube has some resources you can use, to spice up your geography pursuits, but for us personally geography play time worked better then just watching the clips...

Here are some ideas:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/zOti8U_-BNM&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/zOti8U_-BNM&rel=1</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/DBAnI31VTNY&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/DBAnI31VTNY&rel=1</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/dF255x8fVE8&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/dF255x8fVE8&rel=1</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/ul4io_C-T1Y&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/ul4io_C-T1Y&rel=1</a>


We also have CD called Space songs, and it teaches geography concepts in songs.

Here is the sample song from it I found on you tube:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/dch380o58l4&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/dch380o58l4&rel=1</a>

So these are just some of the ideas, hope these help! I am looking forward to get some more tips as well!

[Skylark]

Here is another FREE teaching resource that I forgot to mention:

http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/The-Heart-Tours-6078239/

We did not use it yet, but are about to.  From description: "Activities for over 100 countries including flags to color, coats of arms, geography info, rivers, mountains, cultural costumes, history, recipes to make, games to play and more."

[iwini]

Thanks for the great sharing about Geography.The subject is very essential and I think it is quite difficult to teach the young learner.
I followed some Atlas
              flags of countries,
                      the names.
She started recognised.Now she is familiar with her continent the names of states of nation and their capitals.
She can identify her continent flag along with 4 other continent.But she is not taking much interest on them.May it be the reason it is more wordy.thanks Dad Dude ,I am going to follow your tips.
Skylark ,really you are amazing,you are following wonderful methods of teaching Geography.Thanks for sharing.

[tlyoung]

I really want to get this for my children .   I have to save up for it though...      http://tenderheartpress.com/index.html#     

Susan Khan

Susan I also like the visualize world geography system, sure wish I could afford the enitre program too!
 Thanks for the link to it.

[kmum]

My geography idea for our family involved a change in dining room decor  !  Actually all I did was to take down the picture hanging behind K's spot at the table & replace it with a world map. What has surprised me, is how much my older dd's enjoy it. My 14 year old is now a whiz at stack the countries - it is rare that she ever gets a location wrong. All of my kids have learned a lot  My 4 yo with Down syndrome can name many of the countries & point out where we live, where her grandparents live etc & read quite a few more!

[hypatia]

Hi everyone
Thank you all so much for your replies!

Skylark, I'm sending you a virtual kiss for all those suggestions. I'm very busy right now but will start by saving the videos you have shared.
I'm dreaming about his puzzle you've mentionned. I've found one similar for 50 euros (!!) at the bookshop and am considering buying it. I'll start with a cheaper option and spin the globe as Dad dude suggests!

Maquenzie, this app looks amazing, I'll let you know how my daughter likes it.

I'm off to work, please keeps those ideas coming, I'll let you know what activities we've done this week-end.

[fabangel]

Hi,

I have a World Flags poster up in the kitchen.  Not pushing it or anything but my son keeps asking me what they are.  Also have a world map poster up on the kitchen door and started showing him the countries where various family members live.  Then he started pointing at the tiger etc, and I would say, that's a tiger, in China.  That's the Great Wall / a kangaroo / Sydney Opera House etc.

Don't know where you are based (I'm in the UK) but I like the wooden bigjigs puzzle for countries of Europe and UK counties and the Geopuzzle range for other continents.
Good luck
A

[Mela Bala]

Hello,

We have a world map in our son's playroom at his eye level.  He can identify the US, Russia, India and China.
All we did was whenever he showed interest in the map sit with him and show him some of the bigger countries.  He points to alot of other countries because the sound of the words make him laugh.  He is having too much fun to know he is learning.
He also loves the google earth app oh his ipad.
He has a world geography clever catch ball that he loves.

[Skylark]

Hypatia, you are welcome, I am so glad you liked the ideas. We are just having fun with geography, and at the moment it seem to be their favorite subject.

We also did something fun today. We had flashcards with pictures of famous places around the world. I have to mention, my kids love to play with flashcards, does not matter what kind of game, as long as it involves flashcars 

So we took the whole stuck and would match them with the places on the map. We did it 3 times, they were asking "again again", and then I went to take care of things, and when I came back my older one was taking card after card and "teaching" her baby brother, placing those cards on the map, naming places.

So that turned out to be a fun educational activity, even though not really pre-planned

[Tanikit]

When my DD was 2 we had the World Cup Soccer in South Africa and everyone was flying the flags of the participating countries everywhere. Most businesses were flying multiple flags and so we just had to step out of the door to show her a flag of a different country. She was very interested in the flags so we told her which country they belonged to and she supported the teams based on the flag she liked best - she remembered an incredible amount of information and even now 2 years later she still loves flags so we have been able to link her geography to that.

I have the Usborne Picture Atlas that my daughter loves and sits reading all the names of the animals and things on the maps. We have also taught her geography by introducing her to countries of the world where we happen to know people or where her favourite wild animals live as she is keen on animals.

If you can link the geography in anyway to things that your child is interested in then you will find that she remembers it better and shows more interest - favourite food (where does it come from), favourite product (where is it made) does she watch movies and are their any countries in the movie she could learn about (even Pixar films show plenty that can be used in a geography lesson)

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