He's got the whole world in his hands!

Here's another hands-on approach to geography . . .Here's what you need: two blue felt circles and felt continent shapes (like before, North and South America - red, Africa - brown, Europe - pink, Asia - yellow, Australia - orange, Antarctica - white. You also need a reference map if at all possible and then labels if your child is old enough.
Here's why you should do it: Children learn by doing. Actually, many adults learn this way, too, but children are VERY tactile learners. This is just another reinforcement so they can learn about the continents and how our world "goes together". Just think of this as a puzzle, but a step up because there is no "control" of where each piece goes.

Here's how you do it: Place the circles (hemispheres, remember?) side by side. Look at the reference map and place the continents in the correct places. Of course, you want to be with them telling them the names of each continent, too.

Isn't that cute?? :)

Now here's the BIG DADDY map . . . I love this this. I made this for my classroom because the very few times I did a whole group time (only about ten or fifteen minutes per day) I needed/wanted a large map to lay in the floor so that all the kids could feel engaged and see what I was trying to teach them. I have a really cool post coming up using this BIG DADDY map next!

Lawton did the same thing with this map. He laid out the hemispheres and then placed the continents down.

I made some quick labels with index cards for him to label the continents and oceans. Here's another idea, though for the younger child - make cards that say Land and Water and label appropriately. Land and water are very appropriate concepts to learn on a map. If you want to break it down even simpler, fill baby food jars or those tiny disposable containers with actual land (dirt) and water tinted blue. Then you can have them place the containers on the appropriate places on the map.

And guess what? I'm giving away one small felt set! Just leave a comment . . . I'll announce the winner on Monday! (and don't forget - if your kiddo is too small now, they will be big enough to do this very soon!! :)

p.s. if you ever make/do any of these ideas, I would LOVE to see them or hear about it! That's why I'm sharing - so you can do it too and I can still "feel" like I'm teaching . . . in a roundabout way!