Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Activity, Change, Progress

homeschool geography

The Geronimo Stilton Series: Make a Fun Edible Coral Reef

| 2 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today, for book Number 29 Down and Out Down Under of the Geronimo Stilton series, we’re making an edible coral reef. The Geronimo Stilton books are for ages 7 to 10 years old and are full of mouse fun and adventure.

In the Geronimo Stilton series book Down and Out Down Under, Geronimo is off to learn on adventure to Australia.

The Geronimo Stilton Series: Make a Fun Edible Coral Reef

And when you think of Australia you may immediately picture cute koalas and terrifying crocodiles but another famous and very important part of Australia is The Great Barrier Reef.

The idea for creating this fun hands-on coral reef is from our latest read which is Down and Out Down Under (Geronimo Stilton #29).

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World and is teeming with incredible life, color, and beauty.

The story covers a lot of topics of interest in Australia.

This fun book mentions land animals, Uluru, Aborigines, topography, and the Great Barrier Reef .

Great Barrier Reef Resources

Today’s hands-on activity is fun, colorful, and a great way to teach all ages about the life that is in the Great Barrier Reef.

If you want to make an impact, hands-on activities are always the best way to fully immerse your kids into your topic.

This hands-on fun activity also appeals to all 5 senses and will make certain that your kids do not forget while they learned anytime soon.

Besides Down and Out Down Under (Geronimo Stilton #29) here are a few beautifully illustrated spines you may want to add to your library.

They are great basics that give great bites of information about the ocean, reefs, ocean animals and plants, and more.

  • Ocean Anatomy . I am such a big fan of the illustrations in these books but also how much information is contained in each topic. This one covers everything from why the ocean is blue and salty to tides, animal life, and even a section on The Great Barrier Reef specifically!

I am such a big fan of the illustrations in these books but also how much information is contained in each topic.

This one covers everything from why the ocean is blue and salty to tides, animal life, and even a section on The Great Barrier Reef specifically

The Geronimo Stilton Series: Make a Fun Edible Coral Reef

Facts About the Great Barrier Reef

:Next, here are a few facts to share about the The Great Barrier Reef.

  • The Great Barrier Reef, located off of the eastern coast of Australia, is the longest coral reef in the world.
  • It is home to 1500 species of tropical fish and 400 finds of hard and soft coral
  • The reef serves as a protective habitat for many other forms of marine life.
  • One of the threats to reefs is coral bleaching.
  • Crown-of-thorns starfish is one of the predators to the reef which feeds on the soft coral polyps.
  • A coral reef is a fragile ecosystem which requires very specific conditions. The water must be warm (between 69-84 F) and relatively shallow (to depths of 60-100 ft).
  • Coral reefs exist in shallow waters because they depend on photosynthesis for food production. Photosynthesis is the chemical process by which plants capture sunlight and convert it, along with water and carbon dioxide into energy.

While your child designs their own little slice of sea life you can talk about the various life that lives here, what is being done to preserve it and where its located.

The Geronimo Stilton Series: Make a Fun Edible Coral Reef

Next, look at how to make this fun hands-on edible coral reef.

How to Make an Edible Reef

Here is a list of some things we used. Your list can vary depending on what you use for plants and animals

  • One half sheet cake or a boxed cake mix
  • Vanilla wafers
  • Assorted candy – airheads, licorice whips, swedish fish, cookies, sprinkles and white chocolate pretzels
  • Icing in various colors or food coloring for your own icing

Bake your cake according to package directions and allow to cool completely.

Flip pan to carefully remove cake and cut ⅓ of the cake off.

Flip over the two pieces and stack the smaller one on top of  the other.

The Geronimo Stilton Series: Make a Fun Edible Coral Reef

And because reefs have overhangs and caves, you can make some nooks and caves by digging out some of the cake.

Add a little food coloring to the frosting and stir. Use any shade you like to create your base.

The Geronimo Stilton Series: Make a Fun Edible Coral Reef

Carefully ice all over the cake making different blobs and creating different textures creating the base mound of your coral.

You want it to look like big rocks.

The Geronimo Stilton Series: Make a Fun Edible Coral Reef

Cut up airheads, licorice ropes and other candies to create colorful coral and push in all over the cake.

Broken white chocolate pretzels make nice coral.

Use the heat from your hands to soften Airheads or other taffy and make some fan coral for your reef.

The Geronimo Stilton Series: Make a Fun Edible Coral Reef

Also, you could create a makeshift piping bag by putting warm wax into a sandwich bag, cut off a small corner and squeeze to make coral shapes onto wax paper.

Allow to cool and harden then remove carefully from waxed paper.

Finally, add in some fun sea creatures and you can add some fun decorations.

These are from obviously these are not edible.

The Geronimo Stilton Series: Make a Fun Edible Coral Reef

Be sure to wash them well before using to disinfect them and keep your cake safe.

And you’ll love these other Geronimo Stilton.

Other Geronimo Stilton Resources:

The Geronimo Stilton Series: Make a Fun Edible Coral Reef

Too, you’ll love the ocean and coral reef resources I have here.

Ocean and Coral Reef Resources

18+ Fun and Interactive Ways to Learn Geography With Kids

| 2 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

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.

18+ Fun and Interactive Ways to Learn Geography With Kids

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.

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.

The Basement Workshop Store

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.

18+ Fun and Interactive Ways to Learn Geography With Kids

What do you like to do to make geography fun?

Hugs and love ya,

5 Ways to Raise a Natural Geography Lover Easily

| 2 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Kids have a natural inborn inquisitiveness for how the earth is made and the different cultures they see around them.Too, look at my page Homeschool Geography for hands-on and simple ideas and tips.

Somewhere between that and the first day of formal Kindergarten, they can lose their curiosity if we direct them straight to a textbook.

Raise a Natural Geography Lover

One myth I need to slay before I go on is that geography is just about labeling/coloring maps.

Although maps are a huge part of geography, unless your child is fixated on coloring at the moment, merely coloring a map will not infuse a love for learning.

Look at my tips here 11 AWESOME Ways to Learn Geography (Other Than Labeling a Map) and then look at these 5 ways to raise a natural geography-lover.

ONE.
TAKE GEOGRAPHY OUTSIDE

Geography is a subject that is best taught using the outdoors or taking it outside as you can.

There are things that you just can’t explain in a geography textbook.

How a pinecone feels, the texture of a bird’s nest carefully crafted with just a beak, and the smell of the flowers from a Southern Magnolia tree that grew in our backyard couldn’t be appreciated from a book.

Even if you don’t, like me, have a naturally formed mountain in your backyard, being outside with nature helps to pique your child’s eagerness to understand geography features.

A trip to the park to study the trees and why certain ones grow in your area helps a child to understand the geography of where he lives.

When we lived on the Texas Gulf Coast, we saw many tall reeds in our neighborhood.

Understanding how plant life was affected by our nearness to the ocean helped my sons understand the part that geography plays in plant life.

Geography and science are interlinked. Many times it’s impossible to separate the two subjects and you shouldn’t.

Look at these 7 Super Easy and Free Nature Lapbooks Guaranteed to Beat Boredom and to create a natural love for geography.

Let geography flow into science and vice versa.

Fun Geoscavenge Geology Scavenger Hunt!

Here is a fun activity to connect the two concepts. Grab this form for a Geoscavenge – A Rock and Mineral Hunt: Day 6 Hands-on Learning.

TWO.
DO GEOGRAPHY ACTIVITIES, NOT JUST READ ABOUT IT

Nothing kills curiosity more than just reading about something and not being able to experience it.

It reminds me of what my husband told me that his family would do sometimes. They would drive to a vacation spot that they waited half the year to see.

After arriving, they would only look at the mountains or whatever it is from their car, turn around, and start driving home.

I can’t even imagine the disappointment of not being able to get out and explore!

Geography should be both an academic study and a hands-on investigation.

Too, hands-on geography shouldn’t be abandoned when your child gets to the older grades.

Hands-on geography is not just for the younger grades, but we tend to skip hands-on learning in the older grades just when our children are demonstrating self-teaching and independence.

Contrary to popular myths, hands-on learning in middle and high school can be rigorous because a young teen is now learning for intrinsic value.

What does this means? It means that learning about geography becomes a natural part of his everyday life. It goes from labeling maps to making learning concrete.

Hands-on learning is paramount at each level of a child’s development and geography is no exception.

Look at Homemade Compass. Simple Geography Projects Equals Huge Wow Factors for an easy activity for older kids.

Homemade Compass - Simple Geography Project With a Wow Factor

THREE.
INCLUDE OTHERS WHEN DOING GEOGRAPHY

Although I wasn’t always eager to meet with other families to study geography because I assumed it would be stressful, my boys beamed when we did.

Not only did they love meeting with other kids, but they loved learning from another teacher. I learned several things about the way my sons learned while they interacted with another homeschool teacher mom.

Homeschool moms who teach well are gifts. Homeschool moms don’t have to teach some really deep topic, but they have a way of bringing learning alive even using the tiniest fact or activity.

For example, while learning about the people and geography of Japan, one homeschool mom and her son taught my boys how to make an origami frog that hopped.

My sons were thrilled and played with that frog for hours while reading and using the atlas about Japan.

Learning geography with others doesn’t have to be complicated. Just do it with one other family and keep it simple and stress free.

Hands-on geography with other homeschoolers equals fun!

(something about blowing up volcanoes with others just makes learning about geography fun too)

FOUR.
COOK TO LEARN ABOUT GEOGRAPHY

There is nothing more natural than having fun cooking and learning a real-life skill in the process.

Kids love to eat normally and have an adventurous spirit when it comes to trying out new foods or snacks.

In the beginning, I would cook a meal from a country, but learned that my boys had just as much fun even if it was just a snack.

Whether you have time for a full meal on the menu or time enough to prepare just a bite for a snack, your kids will remember this part of geography.

As they associate food and culture from different parts of the world, their appreciation for geography grows.

Looked at a few things we have made when studying about certain areas.

  • Make pan au chocolat when studying about France.
  • Make celtic cakes when studying ancient civilizations.
  • Make baklava when studying about Ancient Greece.
  • Make victory soup when studying about the countries of World War II.
  • Make Cherokee pan bread when studying the states in the Southeastern United States.
  • Make soups from South America.
  • Make chili when doing a state study on Texas.
  • Make negrinho when doing a study about Brazil.

FIVE.
LEARN GEOGRAPHY THROUGH ART

Another way to incorporate natural geography fun is to do art. Too, an unexpected benefit is that art can one of those subjects that is hard to get in.

When you study about a country while do art or a craft, learning sticks.

For example, when we used Geography Through Art for part of our learning it helped my boys remember about not only basic geography of the earth but about countries.
Look at this idea Hands-On Geography Activity: Make a Pangaea Puzzle which is in the book.

Hands-On Geography: Australia Awesome and Deadly Animal Art

And look at Hands-On Geography: Australia Awesome and Deadly Animal Art which is fun.

Hands-on Homeschool Geography

Teaching geography naturally doesn’t mean you have to avoid curriculum. It does mean curriculum should follow our approach not the other way around.

For years, I have used North Star Geography because it fits the way I feel geography should be done in the older grades which is hands-on. 

When I lived overseas, I grabbed the digital version because I wanted to take it with me everywhere and because the boys could keep it on their device. I printed it as we needed it.

But North Star Geography has many hands-on ideas for older kids along with a helpful teacher’s guide. We have made our own atlas using their curriculum. I know you’ll love it.

It’s so easy to fall into the trap of just teaching geography without using hands-on ideas but it also kills a child’s natural love for the world around him.

5 Ways to Raise a Natural Geography Lover Easily

You’ll love these other tips!

Hugs and love ya,

5 Ways to Raise a Natural Geography-Lover. Kids have a natural inborn inquisitiveness for how the earth is made and the different cultures they see around them. Teach geography naturally. Look at these 5 ways to teach geography naturally. Click here to see how!
5 Ways to Raise a Natural Geography-Lover. Kids have a natural inborn inquisitiveness for how the earth is made and the different cultures they see around them. Teach geography naturally. Look at these 5 ways to teach geography naturally. Click here to see how!