I’ll tell you an approach to geography that works really well for us (me included!).
We draw a blank map of whatever place we are studying (you may trace the outline if you want, but drawing the outline on your own really makes you remember it). Then, as we study the place, we add our own features to the map. This makes the maps very meaningful. The project also is has been an easy way for me to teach how to use map legends because we add our own symbols on our maps. (The project also teaches layout and design now that I think about it.) And, it’s fun!
You certainly don’t need to label all the little towns or features as that sounds like busywork that will be quickly forgotten, unless a small place is connected to a story or historical event that you learn about.
I do this project along with my children, sort of like the mother making nature journal as the children make their own nature journals.
It’s been a great project for us! We have our homemade maps of the different places we’ve studied, along with drawings we make from the area’s folktales, history, landscape, animals, etc. I haven’t figured out a good way to store all these papers…that’s always a challenge. My goal is to bind the papers into a homemade geography book, but for now they are a pile of loose papers in a portfolio, each country kept together by a paperclip.
Also, simply hanging up maps in your home does wonders. I’m amazed at the places my kids have learned to locate because we have maps posted in the kitchen and in their rooms. Placemats with maps on them are great for lunchtime conversations. 🙂