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

The celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is important throughout Mexico and other parts of the world. Her feast day is Dec. 12, and the celebrations honoring her appearance to Juan Diego in 1531 begin a few days before that.

Whether you celebrate yourself or just want to share about the celebration at home or in your classroom, Las Mañanitas: The Beautiful Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a good place to start. The book, by Ernesto Joel Vega Rosales and Jeanette Gonzalez Seneviratne, with illustrations by Dana Sanmar, tells the story of a family’s celebration of the feast day in both English and Spanish.

They prepare with a novena, which is nine days of prayers and preparations. The children, Lucia and Pablo, are given special outfits made by their grandmother that look like what Juan Diego might have worn when he saw Our Lady. The book describes the prayers that are made each day, such as a prayer for respect for life, for families and for the indigenous people of the Americas, to name a few.

As told in the book, Juan Diego was a native Mexican born near modern day Mexico City. His given name was Cuaauhtlatoatzin, which means “He who speaks like an eagle.” When he converted to Christianity his name was changed to Juan Diego, and as he walked to church he passed a hill called Tepeyac. One day he heard the birds singing especially beautifully and a voice called him to go to the top of the hill.

There he saw Our Lady of Guadalupe, who asked him to tell the bishop she wanted a chapel built in her name at the foot of the hill. The bishop asked for a sign that Juan Diego really saw her, and later she had him collect flowers that she blessed and take them to the bishop. When Juan Diego dropped the flowers, an image of Our Lady could be seen on his cloak, which is still on display in her basilica to this day.

The feast day is celebrated as mañanitas, which includes singing, indigenous music and dancing, and children presenting flowers to Our Lady. Juan Diego is remembered today as being humble, brave and faithful, and was the first indigenous American made a saint.

The book is colorful and tells the story in a clear way, and it’s fun to have it both in English and Spanish if you teach Spanish or speak Spanish at home or in the classroom. It’s a great way to learn the basics of the celebration and the story of Juan Diego and why he is still remembered today.

About the book: 40 pages, paperback, published 2024 by Loyola Press. Suggested retail price $14.99.

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