This educational geography game is the perfect way to intrigue children ages five to eight in the history of the world and the brave explorers that made many of the significant discoveries that amaze us still today.

Strengths:
One of the first things that your student is offered in the game is to print up a world map to hang on there wall.  This gives the child a hands on thing to be able to apply the knowledge that they will learn in the game and also a way to hands on celebrate their success in the geography game as they earn points for every 100 they are awarded a sticker to print out and put on their world map.  … Read the rest of this post…

A toy for adults that kids are allowed to touch only with supervision, the desk globe enchants all with its tiny snow scene.  The clear glass globe with its swirl of snowflakes when shaken is the staple of every office, polished living room, and teacher’s desk – and the unfeigned delight of little children.  They beg to see it shaken, they sit in rapt attention leaning on the arm of the sofa or chair watching the flakes swirl and slowly settle on the houses or figures inside, then beg to be allowed to shake it again themselves.

A small desk globe makes a perfect paperweight.  And a themed collection of varying sizes makes a striking conversation piece at one end … Read the rest of this post…

When putting together a mini-geography lesson to accompany each chapter of an American history course, or just simply a set of warm up and review exercises for in between class periods, there’s nothing like geography black line masters to round out the mix.  Cute matching games, fill-in-the-blanks, coloring sheets, will help students remember geography facts.  Two great sources of geography activities like this are Frank Schaeffer publications and Teacher Created Resources (there are also some great things available from Walch or John Wiley).

Both publishers specialize in workbooks that can be used as reproducibles for classroom use if desired.  The teacher can either assign each student a complete workbook as part of the books for the year – easiest if … Read the rest of this post…

To help teach little children geography, give them a toy globe that’s meant to stand up to lots of handling.  Perhaps get an inflatable globe that they can bounce around on the floor.  Perhaps a “talking globe” that allows them to play electronic quiz games with their friends.  Perhaps try a small bean-bag or foam globe that can fit in the palm of the hand.  Perhaps get a globe key chain.  Whatever you choose, having a toy globe meant for them will help preschoolers and early elementary students to enjoy learning geography.

An inflatable toy globe lends itself well to floor games with a geography theme.  The child and his friends can sit on the floor and play a game … Read the rest of this post…

To teach kids about geography, it’s very helpful to have hands-on tools to help them learn.  US geography can be particularly challenging, with 50 different states to memorize.  A floor puzzle gives kids a chance to physically handle the pieces of the map and look at it in large size.

A good USA map floor puzzle will be cut along state lines, to enable kids to learn the shapes of the states and how they fit together.  It’s also helpful if the puzzle labels the capital cities and major landforms.  Besides just letting kids play with the puzzle on their own time, teachers can also use the pieces as flash cards, holding up a particular state and asking students … Read the rest of this post…

There are all kinds of fun geography games for kids to play.  Besides prepared card games or board games (and there are some really neat ones out there), there are all kinds of in class geography games for kids.  Beginners love map skills games such as making a Treasure Map of their classroom or home.  Students of US or World Geography love in-class activities such as “Who Am I?” or a classroom geography bee.

Floor puzzles make a great introduction to physical geography for young students.  By putting together puzzles of the US map or a map of the world kids literally get a “feel” for recognizing states and countries by shape.  Relative size and distance between states and regions … Read the rest of this post…

World atlas books are a great way to teach a geography course to students.  You can use ordinary old world atlas books as a basis to custom design an eclectic and challenging course.  Here’s how, in just five steps.

First, select the areas of the world the students will study.  Perhaps choose something like European Nations, or maybe Asia and Oceania, or The African Continent.  It’s good to narrow things down so that there will be time to really go into depth.  Another quarter, another semester or another year, cover a different area from the world atlas books.

Second, decide on the countries from that area that the student will study in detail.  Usually one country per week is … Read the rest of this post…

An introduction to geography course for young children should start out with things that are well-known to them before branching out into the study of regions and countries far away.  Concepts such as maps, landmarks, government, foods and lifestyles are best established using the near and familiar.  After students are comfortable with these ideas, the concepts are more readily transferred to the unseen and abstract notion of far away places.

To develop familiarity with maps crucial for an introduction to geography, students can draw a map of the classroom or their front yard.  Then they can branch out to mapping the route to a destination they travel to frequently, such as the grocery store.  Explain what a landmark is … Read the rest of this post…

Are you looking for the best way to prepare for your geography test?  To make the best possible preparation, here’s how to make and use a geography study guide in just three steps.  You will be impressed by the difference good study guide can make in your geography grades!

Each step makes the next one easier, so be sure and do it right.  Best of all, these steps can even be performed all in one long intense session (though it’s much better to do the work on separate days), so if you are reading this the night before a test, take heart!  It will be intense, but you can do this.

The first step for the geography study guide is … Read the rest of this post…

Building a three dimensional globe combines the best of two great geography learning techniques.  One proven technique for students to learn and remember regional geography and landforms is by tracing and labeling maps.  And one of the best ways to help young children to understand world geography is through the use of three dimensional globes.  A project where students trace and label world maps to create their own world globes is the perfect activity to help children learn world geography.

The materials you will need include a large “bouncy” balls (the kind sold at grocery stores), tape measure, string, colored permanent markers, puff paint, pencils, tracing paper, double sided tape, world maps, empty plastic tubs, sand, white glue, and a … Read the rest of this post…