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Map Drill for younger students
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What do you do when you have a younger student, in this case dd 6 1/2, who is ready for map drill but whose little hands and fingers aren’t capable of small labeling? The first map I always start my children out with is a world map, where they are responsible for learning the continents and four major oceans. Each week, I write, on a separate piece of paper, the names of the oceans so my student has the proper spelling; then I write down which color to make each continent (ie. Asia: blue, Africa: red, North America: yellow, etc.) This method has worked successfully with both children, when they weren’t quite able to remember those long names.
Now ds8 gets a list of his countries and then labels what he knows, crossing off the names as he goes. Dd is wanting to begin map study of the Middle East, but her writing skills aren’t quite there yet, if that makes sense. Although she is now learning cursive, she still makes very large manuscript letters, and our color-code system won’t work, I’m afraid, for labeling small countries (ie. Bahrain, Lebanon, Cyprus).
So what do you do for a child who wants to begin more in-depth map drills, but whose labeling skills are a bit lacking?
Help is appreciated!
Lindsey
What about making a larger map of a smaller area? Then there wouldn’t be as many countries to memorize and she would have more space to write.
Well, I’m using copies out of Uncle Josh’s Outline Maps, so I don’t really have the option of making a larger map of a smaller area. I don’t have a copier that will blow up images, nor do I have access to one. I guess I could go to Kinko’s, but I’m trying to keep within the materials that I currently have. Also, her memorization skills are excellent; she frequently memorizes things better than her brother or me. I don’t want to limit that skill because her writing printing skills are a tad behind.
amandajhilburn, I thought about that, but how does she glue the labels for the countries that are squished together, like Israel, Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan??
We started this map today, and she successfully identified and labeled 3 large countries: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Turkey, and 1 small country: Bahrain. Beyond the large countries, I don’t know how to do the small countries…
Sigh,
Lindsey
Maybe you could just do it orally. You could write the names on a white board and she could point to where they are located. I am glad you asked this question, because my 6 yr old will be starting map study here soon too. 🙂
Sonya or Karen,
I’d love to hear you chime in on this…as you have probably done hundreds of maps with tiny countries with your little ones!
We just do it orally. I just ask her (dd starting from around 5) to find and point to the different countries (or states which is what we did last year). When we did the states last year I had a stack of cards that we’d go through and find…we started with just a few and then I added more to the stack as she got more and more proficient.
Jen
We do them orally with a big wodden US puzzle we have (that’s for my 6YO who is learning the states). Also, he loves computer games so I allow him to do one of the following:
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/ (excellent site for US or World Geography!!)
or
http://www.addictinggames.com/puzzle-games/50states.jsp (50 States game)
All the ideas listed here are great! Doing them orally or using laminated labeled slips of paper work well.
Another little “trick” we use sometimes is to write the country’s name in the water beside it (if it’s near water) and draw a little arrow to the country. That gives us a little more room.
Elaborating on the “arrow trick,” you could give her a list of country’s names and have her draw an arrow from each name to its location on the map. You might even laminate the map so you can reuse it for this type of exercise.
Or you might number each country’s name on the list and have her write the corresponding numbers on their locations on the map.
You might also do an Internet search for “Middle East outline map” and see if you can just print off some maps that make the area large enough for her to feel more comfortable writing on it.
I give my children a map and have them point to the country/province/ocean/lake etc. and tell me what it is then label it for them.
Thank you all so much! You have given me some great ideas! Now I just need to figure out which one will work best for her.
Blessings,
Lindsey
I started having the littles work a puzzle (Geopuzzles) while the older ones do their drill. I’m thinking that as my olders work on a continent they littles will memorize the puzzle and be able to write it later.
We have also done map drill orally for the most part (although not very consistently I’m afraid!).
A colored map key might be helpful if you want something on paper: you write the countries’ names in the margin/ocean/wherever with an empty square next to it. Your child fills the square with the color of their choosing and then colors in the appropriate country. My kids seemed to like that.
@Lindsey I came across this today and remembered your question here
http://www.yourchildlearns.com/megamaps.htm
You can print out the maps on the links from fitting on one sheet to several feet across.
The iPad is your friend! Try these apps – the Montessori Approach to Geography, Stack the States/Countries, Shake the States and TapQuiz Maps. My kids learn so much and it’s a treat!
We’ve also used large labeled maps from Montessori Outlet that I learned about from Richele here.
Oh, we also like the Grography Songs from Audio Memory.
HTH,
Christie
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