Eighteen fun and interactive ways to learn geography with kids is more than learning to label a map. Also, look at my page Homeschool Geography for hands-on and simple ideas and tips.
After all, nothing about labeling a map ever worked in enticing a kid to want to know more about the world around him.
Making geography come alive is key to making it stick. Too, some kids are craft loving, others not so much.
The point is having a large trunk so to speak to pull ideas out of works.
Fun and Interactive Ways to Learn Geography With Kids
Look at these 18 fun and interactive ways to learn geography with kids which work for a variety of ages.
- 1) Unit studies are a favorite of mine. Focusing on an artist from a certain area, the food, inventions, and music can be a very comprehensive geography study. We did this with our Turkey country unit study.
- 2) This next way is so much fun. It’s Google Lit Trips. Download Google Earth Pro for free. Look at this Google Document to see how to use it. From the site: What is a Google Lit Trip? Lit Trips are downloadable files that mark the journeys of characters from famous literature on the surface of Google Earth.
- 3) Do a postcard exchange from friends around the world. You can do this in any of the facebook groups you’re in if it’s allowed. Kids love receiving postcards from all over the world. I allow it in my closed homeschool facebook group if you post.
- 4) Sugar dough, peanut butter, or salt dough maps are great fun for any age. Of course you can make this an edible map. Here is our edible peanut butter dough map studying about Lewis and Clark and salt dough map while studying about Marco Polo.
Geography with Kids
Also, adding in an adventure whether you drive or take a virtual trip or two makes a difference.
- 5) You don’t have to go far to enjoy geography. Just going out doors or to a state park where you can learn about the flora or fauna of an area is something kids love. Nature, science, and geography are subjects that fit together naturally.
- 6) Google Earth. Just pick a place and roam the streets. Kids love this.
Another fun way to learn about other places is to use fun picture books. You’ll love this roundup.
In addition, games ( 7 to 10) are one of the BEST ways to learn geography.
Learn Geography With Kids
Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego (11) is a great series too. The series comes in paper back, on pc, a board game if you can find one and currently is on Netflix.
Another idea to make geography fun for kids is to make a travel brochure (12). You’ll love the fun one here on Crayola.
Also, host a co-op with another family or two (13).
You know kids love looking for an opportunity to get together; a mini-geography co-op is a great way to feed their need to interact while learning a useful topic.
Sharing teaching is another reason why a mini-co-op is fun. You can assign countries to each family and have them do a presentation together. This allows each child to share what he loves about geography.
As you can see kids get an added benefit of public speaking in a smaller setting. Writing is naturally incorporated and becomes fun since it’s meaningful.
Other natural ways are focusing on art(14), dressing up like the costumes of each country(15), cooking recipes is a big hit always(16), creating a cookbook for each country or state(17) and Minecraft(18).
Creating worlds in Minecraft is another fun way to create a place or even to learn about coordinates. Coordinates in Minecraft are precursor lessons to to longitude and latitude. See my post Hands-on Geography: Longitude/Latitude Mapmaking Activity
And one more fun one (19), grab a map from the dollar store and add landmarks on it, track your vacations and add to it, add rivers or other fun tidbits on it. It’s a fun keepsake too.
These are just a few ways to bring geography with kids to life. You’ll love these other posts below with great tips.
What do you like to do to make geography fun?
- STEM and Geography: How to Build an Ancient Viking Ship
- Hands-on Geography Mesopotamia: Fun Salt Dough Map
- 100 BEST Books for Kids from all 50 States (Easy Geography)
- 5 Ways to Raise a Natural Geography-Lover
- Hands-On Geography Activity: Make a Pangaea Puzzle
- Hands-On Geography: Australia Awesome and Deadly Animal Art
- 35 Hands-on Geography Activities to do in 15 Minutes or Less
- 5 Steps to Choosing Geography Living Books Your Children Will Love
- First Grade Homeschool Curriculum for History and Geography
- 3 Reasons Hands-on Geography is Important in Middle and High School Homeschool
- Homemade Compass. Simple Geography Projects Equals Huge Wow Factors
Hugs and love ya,
As the founder of the Google Lit Trips projects, I wanted to thank you for your interest in sharing our resources. However, I also wanted to let you know that your information about accessing and viewing our resources is a bit outdated. Please see the our revised step-guide for Viewing the new Google Lit Trip Premier Edition at:. http://bit.ly/PremiumGLTs
Jerome
Thank Jerome for helping me to keep this wonderful resource updated which you offer. I will edit my post to reflect the google document.
Thanks again for visiting! Have a super day.