Geography

Become a Geo Spy

Wed, 01 May 2013 14:55:45 EST

Attention all geography buffs! The GeoSpy Agency needs you! Help them identify continents, countries, states and provinces to earn full GeoSpy status. For your first assignment, visit: missmaggie.org. Good luck!

Earth Day Globes

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 16:36:34 EST

To celebrate Earth Day (which is right around the corner), make these fun little paper mache globes.

You'll need a small round balloon, paper mache paste (1 part flour and 2 parts water), a whisk, 1" newspaper strips, 1" tissue paper strips, a bucket of paste, a disposable cup and plate, skewer, battery operated tea light, and a bucket of water and paper towels for clean up.

For complete instructions ,visit: housingaforest.com.

Wakko's America Song

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 16:15:12 EST

Music is a fantastic learning tool, especially for the memorization of tricky things. Check out this fun YouTube video about the 50 states and their capitals.

WAKKO'S AMERICA (Episode 21 of Animaniacs)
Music traditional (Turkey in the Straw). Lyrics by Randy Rogel.

Wakko:
Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Indianapolis, Indiana
And Columbus is the capital of Ohio
There's Montgomery, Alabama, south of Helena, Montana
Then there's Denver, Colorado, under Boise, Idaho.

Texas has Austin, then we go north
To Massachusetts' Boston, and Albany, New York
Tallahassee, Florida, and Washington, D.C.
Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Nashville, Tennessee.

Elvis used to hang out there a lot, ya know.

Trenton's in New Jersey, north of Jefferson, Missouri
You've got Richmond in Virginia; South Dakota has Pierre
Harrisburg's in Pennsylvania and Augusta's up in Maine
And here is Providence, Rhode Island, next to Dover, Delaware.

Concord, New Hampshire, just a quick jaunt
To Montpelier, which is up in Vermont
Hartford's in Connecticut, so pretty in the fall
And Kansas has Topeka; Minnesota has St Paul.

Juneau's in Alaska and there's Lincoln in Nebraska
And it's Raleigh out in North Carolina and then
There's Madison, Wisconsin, and Olympia in Washington
Phoenix, Arizona, and Lansing, Michigan.

Here's Honolulu; Hawaii's a joy
Jackson, Mississippi, and Springfield, Illinois
South Carolina with Columbia down the way
And Annapolis in Maryland on Chesapeake Bay.

They have wonderful clam chowder.

Cheyenne is in Wyomin' and perhaps you make your home in
Salt Lake City out in Utah, where the Buffalo roam
Atlanta's down in Georgia, and there's Bismarck, North Dakota
And you can live in Frankfort in your old Kentucky home.

Salem in Oregon; from there we join
Little Rock in Arkansas; Iowa's got Des Moines
Sacramento, California; Oklahoma and its city
Charleston, West Virginia, and Nevada, Carson City.

That's all the capitals there are!

Geography Interview

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 10:18:17 EST

Here's a way to make geography fun from: graspingforobjectivity.com

Have your child trace a map of the United States and then interview friends and family to see which states they've been to. Have them make a legend for which colors represent which people. You'll have a colorful representation of your interview!

Santa Tracker

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 10:30:14 EST

Gear up for Christmas Eve! Here's a fun way to learn about Geography while tracking Santa as he works his way across the globe. Just visit noradsanta.org on Christmas Eve to see Santa work his magic worldwide.

Geography foldables

Wed, 03 Oct 2012 10:07:20 EST

(Taken from: www.cooperativelearning365.com)

Here's a fun visual idea that focuses on the world we live in. Cut five envelope fold foldables that will nestle inside of each other at the following dimensions:

Earth: 8-1/2" square

Continent: 7" square

Country: 5.5" square

State: 4" square

City: 2.5" square

After you make the foldables and glue them inside each other, illustrate them to match what each foldable represents. The outside one is the earth, next, is the continent, then country, state, and then city. On the very center of the foldable, inside the city, draw your home.

Travelpod.com

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 10:33:12 EST

The Traveler IQ challenge ranks your geographic knowledge against 8,945,885 other travelers. Brought to you by TravelPod, part of the TripAdvisor Media Network

Geography4Kids.com

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 10:50:29 EST

Looking for a great resource that introduces physical geography? Check out Geography4kids.com. Most of us think about Geography as just countries and Gross Domestic Products, but there's much more to it. Physical geography is all about the Earth and the things that happen on Earth. Check it out and learn something new!

Country Flag Cards

Tue, 29 May 2012 10:43:33 EST

Learn country flags with these free printable flag cards. Visit homeschoolcreations.com to print them and start learning!

Felt Continent Map

Thu, 10 May 2012 16:17:43 EST

Having an actual map that can be pieced together makes learning geography that much more real for children. Childandme.com has some map outlines to print off and trace onto different pieces of colored felt (or to save time, carefully hold the printed copy and the felt together as you cut both, while holding them tightly). You can then print out continent names and any other words you might want to include, like equator, north, south, east, and west. Then get a little string for the equator and you've got a great little interactive map!

The Little Man in the Map

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:32:45 EST

Looking for a great way to teach the U.S. states? The Little Man in the Map is a great book that has fun clues to help kids (or adults for that matter) remember all 50.

Here's an example:

Try looking for it at your local library or bookstore.

What Does Your State Do Best?

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:56:33 EST

Want to find out just what your state does best? Take a look!

For a larger view, visit: www.1bog.org

Kidsgeo.com

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:58:49 EST

Kidsgeo.com is an online geography and geology textbook written for kids with topics focusing on the Earth's surface, the atmosphere, the oceans, as well as the distribution of plants, animals, and people. What a great resource!

Geography Circles

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 13:21:39 EST

Kids often have a hard time remembering which is the city, state, country, etc. Here's a fun visual to help kids remember. Create round shapes that progressively get larger, starting with school, then street, city, state, country, continent, and planet. Kids can draw a picture, or color a photocopy to place on the circle and label each. For more details, visit: www.finallyinfirst.blogspot.com.

Free printable maps

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 16:25:51 EST

D-maps.com is a great resource for all sorts of free printable maps. Check it out!

Geography A to Z

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 09:45:56 EST

Here's a great website with fun printables that focus on geographical places from each letter of the alphabet. Check it out here!

U. S. States Bingo

Sat, 15 Oct 2011 12:01:36 EST

What a great way to make learning the states fun! Click here for the link to download this free game.

Strait vs. Isthmus

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 21:20:03 EST

Here's a fun way to teach the difference between a strait and an isthmus- graham crackers representing land and blue frosting representing water. What kid wouldn't love that?

United States and Capitals Flashcards

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 10:06:39 EST

Looking for a great way to help your child memorize their U.S. capitals? Click here for a link to download free United States and Capitals Flashcards.

Postcrossing

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 09:45:30 EST

What better way to learn about the world than to communicate with people living there? Check out www.postcrossing.com and sign up to receive postcards from all over the world.

All you do is sign up on this free website and you will be given an address in another country to send a postcard. You add your special code on it and when they get it, they will enter your code into the system and someone else sends you a postcard.

A fun way to make this more exciting is to get a wall map and let your kids use pins to mark the spot each postcard comes from. Then, start a memory box to keep all the postcards in.

Cookie Road Map

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 10:10:20 EST

One mom had a great idea about how to teach her kids about states. She made a giant cookie shaped like the state, then had the kids use chocolate chips to mark major cities, and frosting and sprinkles to mark mountain ranges, the capital, bodies of water, and more. Check out the whole process at: www.almostunschoolers.blogspot.com.

State Flag Info. and More

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 10:11:50 EST

Learn all about state flags and birds, print out coloring sheets, and more at http://www.kidzone.ws/geography/usa/index.htm

National Geographic Kids

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 23:38:25 EST

National Geographic Kids has an incredible website that is an amazing resource and wealth of information. Click on this link to visit their "countries" section. Just click on a country, then explore with vibrant pictures, videos, and more! While you're there, take some time to explore the other tools they have to offer.

Geography Worksheets

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 23:28:55 EST

These are great sheets to teach kids geography: http://www.tlsbooks.com/geographyworksheets.htm