A stab at teaching Geography!

Hello Readers,

I am the first to admit that I am a geographical moron. I can't follow a map if I tried, I get lost without landmarks and I struggle to find any country on a map except for my own country and a few of the other big ones. But put me in a shopping centre in any place and I can find my way around so go figure...

So I decided I would try very hard not to impart this geographical nonsense onto my daughters and take a giant leap at teaching (my eldest) some geography. So I decided I would start with a map of South America and have it blown up to quite a large size (the size A0) this was quite cheap to do. My husband found a black and White picture of a map with all the border outline of all the countries. I kept one in tact and I cut the other one up into its individual countries to colour in and then stick on the map like a giant jigsaw puzzle. By making it one giant jigsaw puzzle it has allowed Miss S to find where each country goes on the map. I hope by doing this it will cement it in her brain

I also allow Miss S to pick the country we work on. I then print off the countries flag and some pictures of  Flora and Fauna which is native to that particular country (with names if I can find it). I then get her to cut the pictures out and glue them on to the country we are working on. Miss S has enjoyed this because she loves animals and plants and it helps teach a little about each country's uniqueness even though it is on the same continent.


This has also been a great exercise not only in in geography but it has also allowed me to teach Miss S what a legend is and how to read a legend. I am slowly getting Miss S to colour each country in a different colour we then colour the box on the legend the same colour. This is a great opportunity to then explain that by colouring the box next to the name of the country we help other people be able to find things on a map to.

Below are some photos of our project. Miss S completing Brazil. We have since then completed Bolivia and Argentina.

The Map

Coloring in the first country Brazil

We took turns colouring in

Gluing the flag

Cutting out the flag

Cutting out native flora and fauna

Sticking the native flora and fauna on

Brazil all done

Sticking Brazil on the map

Colouring in the legend to match the colour of the country