Putting up a world map in your child’s room or anywhere else in your home is very beneficial. When you travel or talk about different places, draw your child’s attention to where they are on the map. Start early (2years of age) and don’t underestimate your child’s understanding. Even if you feel she is too little to understand the layout of the world, show the places to her. As long as it is in the context of real life, your child will pay attention to it. For example, if you are traveling to America, show her where you are going to start from and where you will reach, over which countries and oceans you will fly etc. If you have a friend visiting, you can show her the place the friend is coming from and add a few facts about that place.
For slightly older children,
you could tell them about continents, countries, important cities, physical
features, etc.
Teachers can display a world map
or a globe in their classroom and draw their students’ attention to location of
different places they talk about during circle time or from books.
The map adds reality to the conversations, helps children understand their place in the world, increases their
general knowledge and builds the base for Geography.
It does work! My son has a globe in his room, and we always reference it for every trip. He also has map puzzles of the States that we lay out and find the State we are headed to before a vacation! The globe also helped the discussion about day and night - we used a flashlight as the sun!
ReplyDeleteThat's super! Sky is the limit with a tool like this.
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