Resources to Teach Kids About Geography

A key part of raising a world citizen is teaching your child about geography.  Maps help us understanding how the world connects as well as how people have attempted to represent it.  Map-reading is a key component of geo-literacy and a tool that will help open up the world to your child.  Here are some great resources you can use to teach your child about geography.

DIY Geography Activities

Get kids interacting with a map by tracking weather around the world with this game from Mama Smiles…

…or discovering where in the world their food comes from, with this activity from Kid World Citizen.

Kid World Citizen has lots of other fun geography activities, like taking a poll of places visited, mapping your own backyard or playground, going geo-caching, or doing this adorable “my place in the world” craft project.

You can also teach about geographic elements by using activities like these from Afterschool for Smarty Pants to teach about mountains.

Bring Maps to Life

You can also bring maps off the page by making 3D salt dough maps like these from Kid World Citizen or getting a bumpy map to help kids “see” with their fingers.

You can also power your children’s imagination with toys, like these innovative ones from Plushkies.  Each toy is shaped like a country on the map, so kids get a hands-on experience with geography. (Currently available are toys for Mexico, USA, China, and Italy).

Plushkies are great for snuggling or for imaginative play. Younger kids will enjoy the soft feel of Plushkies, and older ones will have fun with the characters represented by each toy.

Games and Apps

Kid World Citizen has also compiled several lists of fun apps to help kids learn geography (Best Apps for Kids to Learn Geography and Five Map Apps for Kids) plus an online world map quiz and geography game.

You can also use the fun board games to teach geography.

Why stop with just teaching your child geography?  Teach them Spanish at the same time with these great resources from Spanish Playground: online map quizzes in Spanish and resources to teach geography in Spanish.

Geography Pinterest Boards

Pinterest is such a great resource for educational tools.  Here are some of our favorite boards for teaching geography:

My own Geography for Kids board

Geography and Preschool Geography from Afterschool for Smarty Pants

International Faves from Open Wide the World

What are your favorite resources for teaching geography?

Disclosure: I received a complimentary Plushkies toy for review purposes, but all the opinions here are my own.

This post has been shared at Crafty Moms Share’s Sharing Saturday.