Helping Kids Learn About Geography

With the Olympics coming up you might be talking more to your kids about different countries and pulling out maps or a globe to show them where different countries are.

If this is your first time introducing concepts of geography to little ones, check out this great list of books about maps and globes from Gift of Curiosity. The list includes basic factual books as well as story books that involve mapping and get kids thinking about the fact that they are part of a neighborhood, town, state, nation and world.

You can do that physically with these Me on the Map activities from Living Montessori Now. I love the basic nesting circles, but stacking boxes and towers are a really cool representation of the different places we are part of as well.

Whether your kids are just learning about maps or are a bit older, National Geographic has a great collection of map skills activities for all ages of elementary school students. From mapping the classroom or the park for the littlest students to studying historic maps and comparing them to those of today, there’s something for everyone here.

How do you use maps in learning? I have an old atlas I pull out a lot when we talk about different countries, we have some nation and world puzzles, and I’ve got my eye out for a secondhand globe we can play with. I’d love to hear your ideas, too.

[Photo by Winn Brewer via National Geographic.]

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All About Armenia for Kids

I’m in deep denial about the fact that new year is almost upon us again! It’s been the fastest and the longest year at the same time, and I can look back and see some good things as well as some things I wish had gone differently.

Doing a year in review with your kids — whether in the classroom or at home — is a good way to capture some of their memories and the things they really liked about the year gone by.

There are a lot of different printable year in review worksheets you can use if you want to make this super easy. Here are links to a few (often part of larger posts about NYE celebrations with kids that are worth a read, too):

Teach Beside Me has lots of fun printables fro the end of the year, including a year in review that covers favorite memory, funniest memory and the best book they read, among other topics.
NurtureStore‘s version has space for a self-portrait and prompts like favorite toy, best day out this year and future dream job.
Remember favorites, their “best idea” of the year and have room for setting goals for next year with this one from The Keele Deal.
The year in review from Yes We Made This has room for drawing or writing and includes things like something they learned, a memory they made and a place they visited.

Of course you could pretty easily make your own year in review for the whole family to do that asks questions based on what you most want to remember. (Favorite video game? Best friend? Favorite family memory?)

And if after the year in review you’re ready to look ahead a bit, Mrs. Merry has new year’s resolution printables to inspired kids to look ahead and set goals for things they want to try. You can totally fill this one out as a grownup, too.

[Photo: Mrs. Merry]

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