I love Maps. Globes are my absolute favorite! I have a very hard time not buying the little desk globes every single time I walk into Hobby Lobby. Maps, globes, geography – oh my!! I once spent a little too much time in the Museo Galileo in Florence Italy.
I stood there just staring at all of the different globes. You can see the evolution of discovery on all the globes and it is amazing! If you’re ever in Florence, be sure to go. I have no idea what the boys ended up doing because I stood there just mesmerized! I think they were fascinated by the telescopes. They had to drag me out of the place – bribed with gelato.
Being a Hands-On Geography (co-op) teacher I always try to incorporate many hands-on map making activities. I believe it is incredibly valuable to know exactly where things are happening ~ historical or present!! When we’re talking current events, students should have a basic concept of where we’re talking about. They can see it in their minds as they are more familiar with maps.
It is important to know where people have been and where other people want to go. Go to your scrap pile for this easy project.
Mosaic Maps
All you need for this activity is construction paper and glue. No legos to step on our get frustrated because of square shapes. You’re welcome!
Cut one sheet of green construction paper into squares and triangles. Small, medium, and large. Give the pile of shapes to your student and encourage them to re-create a map with just those shapes on a blue piece of construction paper. Viola, you’re crafting and doing Geography. My sons definitely wanted to cut a few other shapes but for the most part they did a great job getting the continents (and some countries) in the correct place.
Tip: have your student organize the shapes before gluing. Make bigger squares entire continents if possible. Want to get creative? Use 7 different colors for the 7 different continents.
Remember: this is not an Instagram Award Winning project. It’s for fun – it’s not too serious, and there is no possible way the map will look identical to the real thing. So relax and have fun. The goal is to have kids come up with basic shapes they’ll be able to recognize later. South America looks like an ice-cream cone, Africa looks like a dolphin jumping out of the water, etc.
Looking for more Geography Posts? I have many hands-on Geography activities that are far more exciting than memorizing pictures!