In a Montessori 3-6-year-old environment, children through sensory experience and stories, learn about the physical world around them. They can touch a sphere and compare its shape to the globe or a ball they are used to play with. They build landforms using play dough and fill water forms with water. Montessori puzzle ๐บ๏ธ maps are a fun and interactive way to introduce geography as children are developing their spacial skills as well as fine-motor. Geography puzzles are meant to be taken apart and put back together again and again as children develop an understanding of continents, oceans, and their respective positioning. Montessori Geography hands-on activities build child's long-term memory by physically engaging and stimulating the hand.
In an early Montessori Geography curriculum, a child first learns about his place on Earth through exploring a globe: beginning with the Sandpaper globe (buy here), followed by the Colored ๐ Continent ๐Globe (buy here). Once the child is comfortable with the concept of Earth as a sphere, you will move on to introduce the Earth more abstractly ~ flat, as represented on the Map.
Montessori World Puzzle Map (buy here) requires a precise pincer-grip, and fitting the puzzle-pieces back into the puzzle board requires exactness and meticulousness due to its irregular shape. So, a child will first learn the continents and their positioning on the Globe, and only then you will introduce the World Puzzle Map. Below, Adrian at 33 months is ๐ค singing his favorite Montessori Continent Song, but this time matching the puzzle pieces while using a flat puzzle map.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/175644768
๐ค โNorth America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa. Donโt forget Australia and please don't forget Antarctica.โ
Adrian first sang this same song at 29 months, using the Colored ๐ Continent ๐Globe (see ๐ฝ a video of him singing it here).
I also traced the continent puzzle pieces on a white cardstock paper, wrote continents' name under each shape, and laminated for durability.
Adrian would match each continent puzzle piece to its traced shadow on the paper, and I would read continent's name to him.
Adrian is tracing the words as I read the name of the continent to him.
You may also present a 3๏ธโฃ๐ Three-Period Lesson. 1๏ธโฃPeriod, you will show your child how to match each continent puzzle piece to its shadow, while reading its name. 2๏ธโฃPeriod, ask a child "Will you show me โค๏ธEurope, for example, and match it to its shadow?" Finally, as a 3๏ธโฃPeriod, ask a child: "What continent is this?" A child ๐ถ๐ผ has completed the 3 ๐ Period Lesson if s/he can tell you the name of the continent.
A fun game to further facilitate the continent name recognition is to hide any one continent behind your back and ask a child which continent is missing? Julia and Adrian love taking turns hiding the continents and shouting which one is missing.
For more on the transition from a sphere to a flat map, read a post here World Continent Puzzle ๐บ๏ธ Map -Making the Earth Flat – Why 2 Antarcticas? post.
You can see a video of ๐คan Ocean Song here in "Learning ๐ Oceans with a ๐ถ Song" post, where Julia made up a song to help her brother memorize the names and positioning of the oceans.
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