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how to teach kids where in the world they live

home / Best Of Teach Mama / how to teach kids where in the world they live
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For a long time now, I’ve realized that Maddy, Owen, and Cora have no idea where they live.

Sure, they get that they live in Maryland and their Nanny and Pap and most aunts and uncles live in Pennsylvania, but they don’t really know where they live in relation to the rest of the world.

Cora sees the American flag and calls it the American Idol flag.

me on the map teachmama.com

I know she’s four and that this knowledge and perspective is something that comes with time–and maturity–but I thought that it was about time we addressed the issue head-on.

In order to really understand even why our country has different types of coins (and governments) than other countries–like we discussed when we wrapped and counted coins earlier this week–they have to first learn that they live in the United States of America–a place quite different from the United Kingdom where William and Kate got married this spring, or Japan where Cars 2 took place, or Italy where their Grandma and Grandpa visited this year.

Younger kids sometimes get confused when we tell them they live on a continent, in a country, in a state, in a city.ย 

How can they live in so many places at once?

Believe me, I know there are tons of ways to do this, but I thought I’d give it a try with a Me on the Map activity I saw on Jenn from Finally in First’s awesome blog a few months ago. Among other things, I liked how this activity brought everything together, from planet to home, in one bright and happy package.

How to Teach Kids Where in the World They Live:

This Me on the Map activity spotlights where kids live from big picture to small–their planet to their home (or school).ย  It allows them to hold in their hands all of the places they can call ‘home’ which is why I really love it.

I created circles for each part which can be downloaded here.ย 

Andย for our friends in Canada: Me on the Map: Canada version is a part of the Me on the Map Circles.ย  Feel free to download, share with our friends up north, and watch our Canadian little ones learn about their place in this big world!

me on the map teachmama.com

ย Owen helped cut out the circles at swim this week when he couldn’t go in the water.

me on the map teachmama.com

The circles include:

  • our planet;
  • our continent;
  • our country;
  • our state;
  • our city;
  • our street;
  • our home (or school)

I also added some links to resources I used to print out an earth for the planet circle, a map of the continents, the USA map, the state of Maryland map, our state flower and flag, and our city.

As cool as it would be to have kids do the research to find this information and to really work hard to draw pictures of each part, I know it’s the summer.ย  And my focus was simply to give Maddy, Owen, and Cora a more clear picture about where they live in relation to the rest of the world.

me on the map teachmama.com

me on the map teachmama.com

Cora colors North America–the continent where we live.

me on the map teachmama.com

and Owen writes ‘Earth’ for our planet.
me on the map teachmama.com

To get this party started, I said,

Okay my friends. This week we organized coins and found a lot of coins that belonged to other countries. I have no idea how they got in our coin jar, but they did. They obviously got really mixed up–somehow they made it from their countries all the way over to our country, the United States of America.

Today we’re going to take a look at where we are–where we live compared to other places in the world–and all of the places we can call our home.ย 

Because you know we live in Maryland. You know that Nanny and Pap live in Pennsylvania. And you probably know we live [on our street, in our city].ย  But it gets confusing to live in so many places at once.

This is going to make where we live a little bit more clear, but I’m really going to need your help because there are a few steps to this. I know you can handle it. Ready?

I had organized all of the circles by size, and I placed the ‘extras’ above them.

I said, First we’ll start with our planet. We don’t live on Mars, and we don’t live on Jupiter.ย  We live on. ..

Earth!! Owen and Maddy yelled.

Yep. We live on good ole planet Earth.ย  So glue your earth on the circle that says ‘our planet’ and write ‘Earth’ above it.

me on the map teachmama.com

Our Me on the Map circles, all spread out and drying.

We did the same for each circle, and as we went, I wrote the name on a piece of paper so they could copy it.

Really, Maddy was not feeling this activity. She was totally not into it. So I let her do what she was up for without pushing her.ย  She wanted to do her sketching, and that’s totally fine with me.

me on the map teachmama.com

She scribbled the words and glued quickly and didn’t care a bit.

Owen was into it; he worked hard to write each word, and he placed his circles carefully on the table to dry.

I found I had a really hard time keeping up with Owen and being slow enough for Cora, but when I finally just let Owen zip ahead while I stayed along with Cora, and I wasn’t worrying about Maddy, it was fine.ย  Maddy actually came back to it the next morning, when she was more in the mood. I love it.

I took photos before we added our street and home–so that our location’s not plastered in cyberspace–but the kids drew cute pictures of our house and their perception of our street.

me on the map teachmama.com

Cora holds her ‘Me on a Map’ proudly. . . and now that the picture’s taken, we can add our street and home.

me on the map teachmama.com

We linked them all together with a circle clip, and we were ready to go.ย  Now finally Maddy, Owen, and Cora will be able to tell anyone who asks where in the world we live. I totally love it.

I wanted the kids to be excited about doing this without dreading the work, and I think this did the job.ย  It gave them enough to do to be invested but not too much so that they thought it was work. . .

Happy mapping!

And check out these other fun activities for kids:

  • make plastic bag ice-cream
  • apple taste test
  • backyard learning made FUN
  • start a blog– for kids!
  • backyard chopped challenge
  • make slime
  • take your family to the white house

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About amy mascott

teacher, mother, dreamer. lover of literacy, fun learning, good food, and three crazy-cool kids. finder of four-leaf clovers | dc metro ยท http://about.me/amymascott
tweet with me: @teachmama

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jamie @ hands on : as we grow

    July 7, 2011 at 5:14 pm

    I often find myself confusing Henry with saying that we live here, whether its our town or our state… and then even our country – it gets REALLY confusing. Do you have any idea at what age this is grasped?

    Reply
    • amy

      July 7, 2011 at 5:24 pm

      Jamie–such a good question. I’d say that kids will get it by 2nd or 3rd grade. . . with repetition. Lots of it. And those kids who grasp geography more naturally may understand it earlier.

      Reply
  2. Angelique Felix

    July 7, 2011 at 5:40 pm

    Hi Amy, I find your post useful, beautiful and playful in the same time! Thank you for sharing. My little girl (5) has to deal a lot with movement between countries, since I am Dutch and we stay in Italy. So I can adapt your activity to her level and I’ll let you know what comes out of it…
    Angelique

    Reply
    • amy

      July 7, 2011 at 5:50 pm

      Angelique! THANK YOU! I look forward to hearing how you make this work for your sweet one. Please do share when you find time!

      Reply
  3. Rachele @Messy Kids

    July 7, 2011 at 8:55 pm

    I have to do this with my son. With 4th of July just passing we’ve been talking a lot about America and America’s birthday. I showed him a map on google starting with the earth and shrinking it down to our city but I’m not totally sure he got it. This will be a great way to reinforce what I showed him. Thanks!

    Reply
  4. Rachele @Messy Kids

    July 7, 2011 at 8:59 pm

    The title of your printables reminded me of a book my daughter has in her closet called, Me on the Map http://www.amazon.com/Map-Dragonfly-Books-Joan-Sweeney/dp/0517885573/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1310086674&sr=1-1

    It’s a great book for this sort of activity too!

    Reply
    • amy

      July 7, 2011 at 9:49 pm

      thanks, Rachele! Can’t wait to check it out–I’ve never heard of it!

      Reply
  5. Callie Feyen

    July 7, 2011 at 9:01 pm

    Oh, I am totally stealing this idea! I love it! Actually, we are leaving tomorrow for a trip to Chicago and I just printed out several maps from our travel itinerary for my 4 year old to look at as we travel. I highlighted spots for her to look for and packed stickers for her to mark when we pass each part of the trip. It’s something to do while we pass the time from Maryland to Chicago…beats listening to another round of Dora. ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
    • amy

      July 7, 2011 at 9:51 pm

      Callie–
      Thank you! Steal away–and make it your own! Travel safely, and fyi, I LOVE that idea–stickers to mark each spot? Perfect!

      Reply
  6. Candace

    July 7, 2011 at 9:13 pm

    Love the circles! We’ll use your printables when we revisit next year!

    Reply
  7. Sharon

    July 7, 2011 at 9:23 pm

    I just ordered Me On the Map. Seeing all of your activity it reminded me that was on my
    ‘To buy’ list. We will start as soon as it comes!

    So is this activity suggested in the book or did you create it? I want to do it but I will wait if it is a part of the book.

    Reply
    • amy

      July 7, 2011 at 9:52 pm

      This is a separate activity, Sharon, and I’m in the process of figuring out how to avoid people using/ paying for Scribd, so if you want me to email it to you, let me know–I was under the impression that Scribd was free–I’m so upset.

      Reply
      • Sharon

        July 7, 2011 at 11:46 pm

        yes! email me!

        sharonsaad at gmail dot com

        Reply
  8. Sharon

    July 7, 2011 at 9:24 pm

    P.S. I thought about doing something like this for bodies of water too. They get confused as to the size of a pond, lake, ocean, etc. I suppose you could even throw in a puddle too! ; )

    Reply
    • amy

      July 7, 2011 at 9:48 pm

      YES! LOVE it, Sharon!! So smart–it can really be adapted for a ton of things–

      Reply
  9. Rebecca

    July 7, 2011 at 9:25 pm

    I really like this! So many of my students have no clue about the world they live in. I like that they can easily collage/illustrate the circles. Great Idea!

    Reply
    • amy

      July 7, 2011 at 10:05 pm

      hoooray! Glad you think it will work for your students, Rebecca! I really love it, too–send photos when/ if they do it!!

      Reply
  10. Brandy

    July 7, 2011 at 11:17 pm

    LOVE! I saw this on Jenn’s blog a few months ago and filed it away in my brain for later. Well, with your easy peasy printables it looks like it’s later now! Thank you Amy!

    Reply
    • amy

      July 7, 2011 at 11:44 pm

      you got it, my friend! map away–and send picts when your crew does it!!

      Reply
  11. Kristin

    July 8, 2011 at 12:36 am

    I love this! My 4.5 gets this confused all the time. He thinks everyone lives “in America.” I think he’s associated this with our neighborhood (which IS in America). But then a friend moved a few miles away and he commented that he no longer lives in America! Not an easy concept for a preschooler : )

    Reply
    • Brandy

      July 8, 2011 at 10:34 am

      Yes! My 4 year old asked me the other day if we were back in Alabama yet? We were on our way back from the science museum which is a few miles from our home. I must say it’s cute, though!

      Reply
  12. Kristin @ Preschool Universe

    July 8, 2011 at 1:09 am

    This is a really good way to show how categories of things fit together. What a great vocabulary builder for almost any subject….for older kids genus/species/etc. for animals would be a good application.

    Reply
    • amy

      July 8, 2011 at 6:33 am

      thanks, Kristen! You are so correct–it’s a very adaptable activity!!

      Reply
  13. Alexandra

    July 8, 2011 at 2:44 pm

    This is such a great activity but I am having trouble printing out the circles. My printer only prints part of the circle. When I try to download the page it takes me to an upload option. Any advice?
    TIA

    Reply
    • amy

      July 10, 2011 at 2:36 pm

      Alexandra–
      Please shoot me an email–I’m happy to send it to you directly!!

      Reply
  14. karen

    July 11, 2011 at 3:48 pm

    I love this idea, we always have fun with geography! Thanks, Karen

    Reply
  15. Amy @ A Little Nosh

    July 12, 2011 at 10:01 am

    I’m cracking up over the American Idol flag. That’s awesome.

    Reply
    • amy

      July 12, 2011 at 12:22 pm

      awesome or a combination of scary/ sad. . . ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply
  16. Angie

    July 16, 2011 at 11:15 am

    I’m having trouble printing this out, too. I love this activity. We just got the book ‘Me on the Map’ and my five year old LOVES it! He’ll be so excited to do this activity. Would you be able to send it to me directly? ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
    • amy

      July 16, 2011 at 12:46 pm

      absolutely, Angie!! I’ll send it your way now–

      Reply
  17. Julie

    August 2, 2011 at 11:56 pm

    Thank you so much for sharing this idea. I just did this activity this weekend and it was a lot of fun. Just started Kindergarten this week and this fit in perfectly with our introduction to the world.

    Reply
    • amy

      August 3, 2011 at 9:24 am

      you’re so welcome, Julie! PLEASE send picts either here or on Facebook to show how they turn out!

      Reply
  18. Rebecca

    August 16, 2011 at 12:55 pm

    Hi Amy,
    I love this idea as well and was excited to follow your comment from Finally in First’s blog here to see your templates. I would love to use them with my son, but I’m having trouble printing from Scribd. Would you mind sending them to me at rebeccastt [at] hotmail [dot] com? Thank you so much!

    Reply
    • amy

      August 16, 2011 at 6:46 pm

      Sure, Rebecca! Thanks for writing and so glad you can use these. So sorry–I wonder what’s going on w/ Scribd. . . ๐Ÿ™

      Reply
      • Rebecca

        August 17, 2011 at 1:01 am

        I hate to bug you, but did you send it to my email address? I haven’t received it. When I try to print from Scribd, it only prints two pages that have file information on them. Do I have to have a Scribd account?

        Reply
        • amy

          August 17, 2011 at 9:37 am

          Hey Rebecca–Yes! I did send it to the email you gave me, but it was sent back as ‘undeliverable’. Here’s the link again, and no, you shouldn’t need a Scribd account to download! I’ll send it via pdf to this email and see if it works! ๐Ÿ™‚
          http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/59543683?access_key=key-1688nsivkbgcswj3y8qd

  19. Rebecca

    August 17, 2011 at 12:27 pm

    I got it through my email. Thank you SO much, Amy! I appreciate that you shared it with us for free, and that you took the time to email it to me. What a great project!

    Reply
    • amy

      August 18, 2011 at 11:19 am

      Rebecca–super! Glad you got it and please share picts when you do it–you are awesome for taking the time to write, my friend. ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply
  20. Cathy

    September 29, 2011 at 5:03 pm

    I love your templates, but I can’t get them to download. After trying for two days, I am officially giving up! Could you please email it to me? My first grade team who I will be sharing it with will be as grateful as I will be. Thanks sooooooo much!!!!!! [email protected]

    Reply
    • amy

      September 29, 2011 at 5:44 pm

      Cathy! So sorry–this one has been really giving people trouble. The only thing I can think of is that you may not have an updated version of Adobe on your computer? Others have had success when they save the doc to their hard drive and print from there. . . sorry!

      Certainly will email them to you now.
      Thanks for sharing–
      amy

      Reply
  21. Ann

    January 6, 2012 at 2:16 pm

    I might do this project with my daughter she enjoys learning projects! Just bookmarked it – thanks!

    Reply
    • amy

      January 6, 2012 at 11:08 pm

      Ann–thanks so much! Please let me know how it goes for your daughter, and huge thanks for reading!! Happy 2012 to you!

      Reply
  22. Tortknee

    January 7, 2012 at 10:18 am

    Did you know there is a book called “Me On A Map” that would really provide a nice literary connection to your activity – same concept. Maybe you’ve already read it ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
    • amy

      January 7, 2012 at 11:37 pm

      NO! Thank you so much for sharing–cannot wait to check it out. Many thanks for writing, and HUGE thanks for reading!!

      Reply
  23. sherri

    January 25, 2012 at 7:20 am

    Thanks so much for the printables! I was planning to do this activity this week with my son, and this makes it so much easier!

    Reply
  24. Anna

    March 17, 2012 at 10:43 am

    This is such a fantastic idea! The children in my class get so confused with the difference between London, England, UK and Europe, I am definitely using this! Thank you!

    Reply
  25. Anna

    March 17, 2012 at 10:43 am

    This is such a fantastic idea! The children in my class get so confused with the difference between London, England, UK and Europe, I am definitely using this! Thank you!

    Reply
  26. Kristin

    March 17, 2013 at 10:46 pm

    I love this! I would like to include this activity in my Earth Day unit. Would you please email me the printables? Thank you.

    Reply
    • amy mascott

      March 18, 2013 at 11:18 am

      Kristin–
      Thank you! You can download them from the site, my friend!

      Reply
  27. Mariah

    September 21, 2013 at 2:02 pm

    We did this over at The Adventures of Action Jackson. Thanks so much, my son really is interested in where he lives!
    http://adventuresofactionjackson.wordpress.com/2013/09/21/where-do-i-live/

    Reply
  28. Makayla Colwell

    September 12, 2018 at 6:29 pm

    I am so excited to use this with my girls! Thank you for sharing this!

    Reply

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