I used as many ways as I could come up with to reinforce their previous knowledge of the Polar regions as well as teaching them where in the world South America was.
- Wall Map
The first place to go was the huge wall map. I first asked the girls to point out where the Arctic and Antarctic was, and then to take a guess where South America was:
- Night Light Globe
We then went to their bedroom for them to attempt to fine the polar regions and South America on their globe:
- Atlas for Children
We own three different ones. I read each page linked with South America, as well as looking and chatting about the polar pages also. These contained really interesting information and a variety of maps giving the girls the perfect introduction to the South American Continent:
- Google Maps
I love google maps. I helped them to find both the polar regions and then South America. I left A6 to explore the South American continent by herself. I also printed out an image for both of them to pin onto their pin boards by their bed:
- Our Large Home-made Map
We pulled down our huge paper mache map and together the girls found South America. I had them label it and together we marked the desert with gold glitter, the main rivers using blue felt, the mountain ranges using red pompoms and the rain forest using green feathers:
- Map of the World Puzzles
We have a few of these so I helped the girls build them up and to find the two continents we have learnt so far- Antarctica and South America:
- Globe Trotting Game
This is a useful game for reinforcing all the continents of the world. We played this a few times:
- Labeling Map Print Outs
I gave A6 a nice clear map to label. She found, coloured and labelled the Arctic Circle, Antarctica and South America:
Hopefully both little ones would now remember where South America is on the map! Tomorrow I will be posting about our South American Cookie Map.
More Inspiration
I love what you did with the big map. Where do you store something that large? It doesn’t really look like it would fold. I would say the girls have been successful with South America. They will never forget where it is in this world. Great activities. Now, on to that cookie…
We have rafters/ beams in our dining area so I store it resting on top of them. It wouldn’t win any beautiful homes awards but at least it keeps our dining room table free to eat off!
Making a giant map of the world is high up on my list of things to do this year.
Ours is getting a bit tattered now, but we have used it for all sorts of school stuff so it has been well worth the effort of making it.