beanmommy2

Anyone have any recommendations for good geography-like games or
activities or puzzles?

Store-bought, on-line, homemade, whatever ... Stuff like looking at
states and countries on a map, talking about what's unique about them
(I remember playing something called Game of the States when I was a
kid, where you buy oranges in Florida, that kind of thing), what foods
come from where, looking at the different flags, who we know that lives
where (including the Wiggles), etc.

My kids are four and a half and six and a half.

Thanks
Jenny

hollywoodapi

Jenny,

Your kids might enjoy participating in post card exchange. We did
it for a year or so, when my boys were exactly the same age as your
children.

One of the yahoo! groups for post card exchange is "postcardkids".
I am sure there are others. But that is the one we used and it was
great!

Kind regards,
Anna

--- In [email protected], "beanmommy2" <beanmommy2@...>
wrote:
>
> Anyone have any recommendations for good geography-like games or
> activities or puzzles?
>
> Store-bought, on-line, homemade, whatever ... Stuff like looking
at
> states and countries on a map, talking about what's unique about
them
> (I remember playing something called Game of the States when I was
a
> kid, where you buy oranges in Florida, that kind of thing), what
foods
> come from where, looking at the different flags, who we know that
lives
> where (including the Wiggles), etc.
>
> My kids are four and a half and six and a half.
>
> Thanks
> Jenny
>

harmony

Flat traveling is a fun way to learn about different places. Check out flat travelers homeschool @ yahoo groups. We have been doing it for a year now. You make a flat person(paper person) and send it to another family. They treat this person as a guest in their home. After a few weeks they send them home with photos, goodies, info about where they live etc. The idea came from the book Flat Stanley.
Harmony


> -------Original Message-------
> From: beanmommy2 <beanmommy2@...>
> Subject: [AlwaysLearning] Good geography resources?
> Sent: Feb 05 '08 7:27am
>
> Anyone have any recommendations for good geography-like games or
> activities or puzzles?
>
> Store-bought, on-line, homemade, whatever ... Stuff like looking at
> states and countries on a map, talking about what's unique about them
> (I remember playing something called Game of the States when I was a
> kid, where you buy oranges in Florida, that kind of thing), what foods
> come from where, looking at the different flags, who we know that lives
> where (including the Wiggles), etc.
>
> My kids are four and a half and six and a half.
>
> Thanks
> Jenny
>
>

K Hykes

Not exactly what you're looking for, but there is an infinitely amusing video on youtube that is a song about all of the countries of the world. It's animated and catchy... my son and I have watched it a few times. If you put abc song into the search box it comes up (not sure why).

He loves maps. I got a set of big wall maps (US & World) from Walmart that are laminated.

Also, there is a neat set of ABC books that are for each state (I'm in Ohio-- the title is "B is for buckeye").

http://gale.cengage.com/DiscoverAmerica/

kitti


To: [email protected]: beanmommy2@...: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 13:27:24 +0000Subject: [AlwaysLearning] Good geography resources?




Anyone have any recommendations for good geography-like games or activities or puzzles? Store-bought, on-line, homemade, whatever ... Stuff like looking at states and countries on a map, talking about what's unique about them (I remember playing something called Game of the States when I was a kid, where you buy oranges in Florida, that kind of thing), what foods come from where, looking at the different flags, who we know that lives where (including the Wiggles), etc.My kids are four and a half and six and a half.ThanksJenny






_________________________________________________________________
Need to know the score, the latest news, or you need your Hotmail®-get your "fix".
http://www.msnmobilefix.com/Default.aspx

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Sandra Dodd

-=-Not exactly what you're looking for, but there is an infinitely
amusing video on youtube that is a song about all of the countries of
the world. It's animated and catchy... my son and I have watched it a
few times. If you put abc song into the search box it comes up (not
sure why).-=-

The Animaniacs one?

http://sandradodd.com/geography/nations


http://sandradodd.com/geography

The post card exchanges should be used more as a math puzzle than
geography. Look at population. Every participant in California,
Texas and New York wants a post card from New Mexico. (And Wyoming,
and Idaho, and...) That means it's Very Expensive for those in states
with a population smaller than many cities you haven't even heard
of. At some point the people in New Mexico (speaking from
experience) have WAY too many from big states, and people are getting
grouchy at them for not hurrying up and fulfilling their obligation.

Post cards used to be a penny for the card and a penny for the stamp,
and so they are considered in people's imaginations to be cheap.
Check again. VERY, very expensive. A post card project will cost
someone at least $25 and double or quadruple that if you're from a
small state.

A map of your town with things marked (WRITE on it; it's just a map--
they get outdated every few years anyways) so the kids can see where
the store is, where dad works, which road out of town goes toward
grandma's, whatever.... that's probably more helpful than anything,
for starters.

But my oldest learned how to read maps from playing a video game that
had a player's guide that had a map of the whole game. Once he could
follow that map, other maps were easy!

Maybe make a map of your house and yard.

We used to draw a map of a city park (various different ones), put it
in a see-through plastic folder, bury a toy (some fast-food toy) or
hide it, and mark the spot on the map with crayon or a sticker so it
can be moved for the next round. You could hide several things, and
then let the kids take a turn and try to mark the right place on the
map (have a big kid or adult to help, if they're very little).


Sandra



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

pentaitalia

http://www.addictinggames.com/50states.html

My kids found this game and loved playing it over and over. You have to
place all of the states in their correct place, kind of like a puzzle.

Shonna

Kim Dawkins

My oldest was probably 6 or 7 when we first got some of the Top Secret
Adventures from Highlights. He begs to do them with me. I do the
reading aloud and he fills in the puzzles, finds the clues, etc. to
solve the mystery. Each set is a different country.

Kim

On Feb 5, 2008, at 7:27 AM, beanmommy2 wrote:

> Anyone have any recommendations for good geography-like games or
> activities or puzzles?
>
> Store-bought, on-line, homemade, whatever ... Stuff like looking at
> states and countries on a map, talking about what's unique about them
> (I remember playing something called Game of the States when I was a
> kid, where you buy oranges in Florida, that kind of thing), what foods
> come from where, looking at the different flags, who we know that
> lives
> where (including the Wiggles), etc.
>
> My kids are four and a half and six and a half.
>
> Thanks
> Jenny
>
>
>



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

C Johnson

Do you have a Leap Pad? The book that comes with it has a wonderful map of the United States and it tells capitals, population and something else. My son has taught himself most of the capitals and knows where the states are and what they look like by playing with this.

BB,
Chrissie

beanmommy2 <beanmommy2@...> wrote:
Anyone have any recommendations for good geography-like games or
activities or puzzles?

Store-bought, on-line, homemade, whatever ... Stuff like looking at
states and countries on a map, talking about what's unique about them
(I remember playing something called Game of the States when I was a
kid, where you buy oranges in Florida, that kind of thing), what foods
come from where, looking at the different flags, who we know that lives
where (including the Wiggles), etc.

My kids are four and a half and six and a half.

Thanks
Jenny






"All you have to decide is what to do with the time you have been given." Gandalf

---------------------------------
Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

K Hykes

I know I sent this once, but just looked at the teacher guides on the site... they vary by state, but some are EXCELLENT... the Hawaii one has a paper lei project, the Ohio one lists tons of neat activities... and on and on, worth checking into if you want to more intensely explore an area (Maybe cheaper than the post card pals!!!)

The neat set of ABC books that are for each state (I'm in Ohio-- the title is "B is for buckeye"). http://gale.cengage.com/DiscoverAmerica/ kitti
_________________________________________________________________
Helping your favorite cause is as easy as instant messaging. You IM, we give.
http://im.live.com/Messenger/IM/Home/?source=text_hotmail_join

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Kelly Shultz

We just got this game for Christmas from grandma. Haven't played it
yet, but I was happy we got it, because it's by an author who wrote
another book my middle daughter really enjoyed.

The Scrambled States of America Game

It's based on the book by the same name by Laurie Keller, who's got a
silly sort of illustration style. Her other book is Grandpa
Gazillion's Number Yard (or something close to that). I think it's a
matching concept, and has nicknames, but not sure if it's got more
info than that on the cards. It says "whimsical, mad-dashing
geography game" on the cover, so it's probably more geared toward fun
and high level state shape recognition.

Otherwise, we've printed out mapquest maps of our routine trip from
Chicago to Iowa, and the kids are always eager to see how close we
are to the Mississippi River, and we note the cities and landmarks
along the way. Probably anything you do can be Mapquested.

How about Google Earth? It's kind of another interesting way to
orient to things. We have a friend from Poland who we were recently
trying to see if we could find her town, and it's just kind of cool
to see how Google Earth jumps from your town up into the sky and
around the globe to another place.

I also just pick up the globe all the time, when we are talking about
anything that is not where we are. It's low-tech and not a game, but
it floats around our house from place to place, and gets picked up
and referenced when it makes sense (I'm actually quite horrible at
geography); just recently we were playing Pirates of the Caribbean's
online game, and looking at the Caribbean. So many things come up in
conversation now, with a 9, 6 and 3yo, that we can often trace
something across the globe.

Good luck,

Kelly

On Feb 5, 2008, at 7:27 AM, beanmommy2 wrote:

> Anyone have any recommendations for good geography-like games or
> activities or puzzles?
>
> Store-bought, on-line, homemade, whatever ... Stuff like looking at
> states and countries on a map, talking about what's unique about them
> (I remember playing something called Game of the States when I was a
> kid, where you buy oranges in Florida, that kind of thing), what foods
> come from where, looking at the different flags, who we know that
> lives
> where (including the Wiggles), etc.
>
> My kids are four and a half and six and a half.
>
> Thanks
> Jenny
>
>
>



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

missalexmissalex

We really enjoy a game called "Five-State Rummy," put out by School
Zone. I got it at Borders, and it's the sort of flash card-ish thing
that should be easy to find. Your goal is to get 5 states that touch
each other in some way. Each state card also shows the state bird and
flower. There's not a lot of depth to it but is quick fun and
portable. I will be totally honest and admit that only Mom and Dad
have played so far, since our baby is too little, but I think I would
have liked it. I just don't know how young.

For that geography & that age range, I LOVE LOVE LOVE 3 books:
Scrambled States of America, Children Like Me by B&A Kindersley, and
Throw Your Tooth on the Roof. The last 2 can really make the
map/globe come alive. The last shows tooth fairy traditions all over
the world. When I taught 1st grade my students LOVED these books.

Alex


--- In [email protected], "beanmommy2" <beanmommy2@...>
wrote:
>
> Anyone have any recommendations for good geography-like games or
> activities or puzzles?
>
> Store-bought, on-line, homemade, whatever ... Stuff like looking at
> states and countries on a map, talking about what's unique about
them
> (I remember playing something called Game of the States when I was
a
> kid, where you buy oranges in Florida, that kind of thing), what
foods
> come from where, looking at the different flags, who we know that
lives
> where (including the Wiggles), etc.
>
> My kids are four and a half and six and a half.
>
> Thanks
> Jenny
>

Janet Ford

This is a fun link for older kids. It does tend to be repetitive. I've been having fun playing, and looking up countries on Google Earth. My kids like to watch primarily, but my 9 yr old son has played a few times.

http://www.minijuegosgratis.com/juegos/hwdykyworld/hwdykyworld.html?b415=0766

Janet

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

alohabun

--- In [email protected], "Janet Ford" <janeteford@...>
wrote:
>
> This is a fun link for older kids. It does tend to be repetitive.
I've been having fun playing, and looking up countries on Google
Earth. My kids like to watch primarily, but my 9 yr old son has
played a few times.
>
> http://www.minijuegosgratis.com/juegos/hwdykyworld/hwdykyworld.html?
b415=0766
>
> Janet
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

Thanks so much!! My dd and I loved playing the world geography game!
Laurie