How do you teach children about countries of the world, i.e. the seven continents.?

Answer 1

At the preschool level, it is really quite easy to teach children about the different countries and continents of the world.

We study a new part every week. We literally put up pictures of the the people, the landscape, different kinds of foods the sports that are played, their flags, we have a guest come in that has been to the country they will read a story to the children show the children things that are used daily in the country such as for cooking and for eating

We learn a few simple words like how to say hello and good bye in the main language, We set up centers where the children can do a craft that represents that country. books and stories are based on the country pictures of the animals that are found in that country are placed on the science table.

ethnic clothing is put in the dress up area we bring in popular toys that the children of the country play with. We listen to ethnic music from the country.

We put up the alphabet so the kids can see the difference between theirs and ours.

After a week of learning and sampling their culture, we celebrate the country. We celebrating one of their holidays.
the kids love it and they really do learn a lot about the country.

Answer 2

Get a map of the world & label each continent. This matter is usually taught to 8 & 9 year old children in the 3rd or 4th grades. By this age many children have traveled to another country or know someone from another country & can relate
to other large land masses.

Answer 3

Large map of the world on the board. Ask children to look at the labels of their clothes, things in the classroom and see where it is made. Put colour markers on all the countries that come up - China, Japan, France etc......once the children have made a connection with what they have and another country, then you can start with continents

Answer 4

I see that you have this question in preschool... I was just "yelled" at for teaching the continents in my class of 5-6 yr olds. I was told that it was not developmentally appropriate. We played a puzzle game that had to fit the continents. We talked about land verses water and which was more. We put the continents over the water etc.. We also played catch with a globe and we had to say if our right thumb landed on water or land.. if it landed on land, I would tell them what the continent was called. They got that we live in North America and would yell out HOME. They had lots of fun.. I think that its good to expose them to this information at a young age. Then whatever they retain, good for them!

Answer 5

I would first get the students familiar with the US, then North America, then the Americas and then branch out.

Include culture, food if you can, and build on acceptance and similarities rather than differences. This will help especially for kids whose parents are prejudiced or have their own insecurities. Have guest speakers come in and teach them a game from their culture, or something that they'll relate to and enjoy.

I know one thing that kids really love is saying something in another language.

You might present it as a "let's travel to..." and have a huge map up. Each student gets to choose a place and you then choose a day where you "go" to that place. Then, do the things above and you, yourself might "play" the part.

Answer 6

How old are the children? Flat Stanley can be used with any age group. We just finished the year with Flat Stanley in my Head Start classroom and it was incredibly successful. We read several Flat Stanley books, then we made Flat Stanleys and sent them all over the world. They came back with letters and photos, and we used a very large map on the wall with strings that led from where they went to the Flat Stanley mounted on the edge of the map. The kids were fascinated to see where "my Stanley" went and hear what he saw and did there! We put the photos and letters into a scrapbook for the kids to read in our library area. They participated in taking the letters to the mailbox when we sent them out, and retrieving the mail each day to see if another Stanley came home yet, and they loved it. This activity can be varied a great deal depending on how old the kids are. Check your local library for Flat Stanley books. Oh, our kids also each made a Flat Stanley or Stella book (their choice) at home with their family and brought them in to read to the class.

Answer 7

My advice is take out a big map and show them the different continents! Give them things to remember like Asia is the biggest one, and Austrila is an island. Then maybe bring in pictures of things that are specific to that continent or region! So for South America bring pictures of rain forest, for Canda bring pictures of forests and snow etc. etc. make sure they understand the differences between them and know where they are!
-Jeanie

Answer 8

My daughter's kindergarten teacher has a soft pillow like globe she uses to teach the kids that stuff, but even a regular globe would work. Just show them how far it is from where you are, the different foods and clothing etc. for each continent.

Answer 9

I think that at the preschool level, I wouldn't expect the student to know the 7 continents, but I would post a large map and maybe point them out to them.

Answer 10

Toddlers love Maps, Atlases and Globes! Don't expect them to remember everything, but rather they will use it as a repitition game where they ask you over and over "Where does my grandma live?" "Where is the school?" "Where is America?" "Where is California?" Etc. They will probably only remember the parts that are important to them. And they will learn the difference between Continents, Oceans, Islands, Lakes, and Rivers on a map