After a foundation is laid, you will need to add a strong structure to fortify their growth.
Articles are updated frequently.
These sections are organized by age level, but the information is not restricted to that age group. Consider looking at other age ranges as well. Also, make sure to check out the Archives.
Articles are updated frequently.
These sections are organized by age level, but the information is not restricted to that age group. Consider looking at other age ranges as well. Also, make sure to check out the Archives.
Plan to Go with Geography
Geography is a living, breathing subject, constantly adapting itself to change...For me, geography is a great adventure with a purpose. Michael Palin
Give your children a great adventure. Plan to give them a well-rounded education with fun. Give them an awareness of physical features of Earth and knowledge of political boundaries and people. Give them a fascination with different countries and different people. Help them to know the difference between a continent and a country, even the names and features of states. If you are planning a family vacation, explore the area on the computer before you go so they know the natural formations that make that state or locale unique.
www.wehavekids.com/education/6-Fun-ways-to-Teach-Geography-to-Kids-at-Home offers the following ideas for parents. Use songs to acquaint children with geography. Some suggestions are on the Kids Learning Tube Channel on YouTube: The Solar System, the 7 Continents Song, the Fifty States and Capitals Song, and the Fifty Nifty United States.
Using puzzles of the United States showing states in different colors and shapes helps children to recognize their own state as part of our country. With a world map puzzle, your children can find continents and far away countries.
You can hang a large map of the world in your children’s rooms. Then post pictures on the sides of the map of the landmarks, physical features, people, and food that your children find in magazines and newspapers. Reading children’s books set in different countries may interest your children in finding those countries on a map or globe.
A worthwhile purchase might be a desk-top globe so children can find their place on Earth. A game they might play is closing their eyes and placing their finger lightly on the globe while a sibling spins the globe. When the globe stops spinning and where their finger is might be where there is an earthquake or a flood or someplace they will “find their love.” Your children might use a tape measure to figure out distance, deciding ahead of time how to use the lines on the tape to show measurement when they place the tape against the globe, such as one inch to be one hundred or one thousand miles.
How about a game of indoor soccer and volleyball using a blow-up or beach ball globe? If the kids miss hitting the ball, they might be asked to name the spot on the globe where the ball lands.
Children can create their own maps of their surroundings, including how many blocks to school or to the park. They can create a map of your house showing different rooms in distinct colors. They might even make up imaginary towns or areas in which they or their play figures would like to live.
Children are often curious about where places are. It costs so little to help your children learn geography in these ways.
John F. Kennedy has said history makes us friends, and geography makes us neighbors. Help your children be good neighbors.
Adventures and Opportunities
Do you or your children know what an adventure is? When children were asked what an adventure was, they answered it was going on a journey to an unknown place, attempting to find a treasure, doing something you have not done before or that you do not know enough about. Maybe it is something in which you make history or discover a new invention. It can be in a book or video, but that would not be as much fun. Adventures should be action-packed!
Adventures should be an important part of children’s lives. They need and want adventure. They need direct, first-hand experiences to become healthy, active, resilient, confident, independent kids. As parents, you should participate in the adventures sometimes, too. Adventures, especially those in nature, are essential to childhood development and to the physical, mental, and emotional health of both children and adults.
Take your family camping. You can camp in your backyard with just a pillow and blanket to watch the stars in the night sky or to see the sun rise. Camping overnight in your back yard does not cost money, need training or special equipment—just drinks and snacks for hungry campers. Building a tree house or fort in your backyard can also be a family adventure.
Instead of putting money into new video games, use some of your money to buy a tent, sleeping bags, and maybe camping equipment. If you give your family the opportunity to really camp in a national forest or campground, you will discover animal sights and sounds and enjoy hikes through the forest, over streams and rocks.
Encourage your ‘wired' children to play outside and look around the neighborhood, to explore and name trees and flowers, even weeds.
Are you spending your time looking after your children trying to keep them safe and out of trouble? Parents, you need skills and confidence to lead your own family adventures which will give your children ways to be safe, assess danger and take risks. When you are not around, you can trust them to use good judgment and know danger and risks if you talk about your own “adventures,” what you did well and what went wrong. You can teach them to think for themselves, develop curiosity and confidence as they build resilience. Help them to explore and learn for themselves. Let them get some bruises, stings, and scraped knees. You will not always be there for them as they grow older. Help them learn to take care of themselves. They are everyday explorers if you let them.
The website familyadventureproject.org/kids-need-adventure-parents-need–to-teach-them-how/ is a great resource for families. “10 Life Lessons from 10 Years of Adventure with Kids” gives advice for facing the challenges of taking your children into a natural learning environment, how to keep you and your children in shape as you adventure, how to enjoy each other and create memories, and more.
Geography is a living, breathing subject, constantly adapting itself to change...For me, geography is a great adventure with a purpose. Michael Palin
Give your children a great adventure. Plan to give them a well-rounded education with fun. Give them an awareness of physical features of Earth and knowledge of political boundaries and people. Give them a fascination with different countries and different people. Help them to know the difference between a continent and a country, even the names and features of states. If you are planning a family vacation, explore the area on the computer before you go so they know the natural formations that make that state or locale unique.
www.wehavekids.com/education/6-Fun-ways-to-Teach-Geography-to-Kids-at-Home offers the following ideas for parents. Use songs to acquaint children with geography. Some suggestions are on the Kids Learning Tube Channel on YouTube: The Solar System, the 7 Continents Song, the Fifty States and Capitals Song, and the Fifty Nifty United States.
Using puzzles of the United States showing states in different colors and shapes helps children to recognize their own state as part of our country. With a world map puzzle, your children can find continents and far away countries.
You can hang a large map of the world in your children’s rooms. Then post pictures on the sides of the map of the landmarks, physical features, people, and food that your children find in magazines and newspapers. Reading children’s books set in different countries may interest your children in finding those countries on a map or globe.
A worthwhile purchase might be a desk-top globe so children can find their place on Earth. A game they might play is closing their eyes and placing their finger lightly on the globe while a sibling spins the globe. When the globe stops spinning and where their finger is might be where there is an earthquake or a flood or someplace they will “find their love.” Your children might use a tape measure to figure out distance, deciding ahead of time how to use the lines on the tape to show measurement when they place the tape against the globe, such as one inch to be one hundred or one thousand miles.
How about a game of indoor soccer and volleyball using a blow-up or beach ball globe? If the kids miss hitting the ball, they might be asked to name the spot on the globe where the ball lands.
Children can create their own maps of their surroundings, including how many blocks to school or to the park. They can create a map of your house showing different rooms in distinct colors. They might even make up imaginary towns or areas in which they or their play figures would like to live.
Children are often curious about where places are. It costs so little to help your children learn geography in these ways.
John F. Kennedy has said history makes us friends, and geography makes us neighbors. Help your children be good neighbors.
Adventures and Opportunities
Do you or your children know what an adventure is? When children were asked what an adventure was, they answered it was going on a journey to an unknown place, attempting to find a treasure, doing something you have not done before or that you do not know enough about. Maybe it is something in which you make history or discover a new invention. It can be in a book or video, but that would not be as much fun. Adventures should be action-packed!
Adventures should be an important part of children’s lives. They need and want adventure. They need direct, first-hand experiences to become healthy, active, resilient, confident, independent kids. As parents, you should participate in the adventures sometimes, too. Adventures, especially those in nature, are essential to childhood development and to the physical, mental, and emotional health of both children and adults.
Take your family camping. You can camp in your backyard with just a pillow and blanket to watch the stars in the night sky or to see the sun rise. Camping overnight in your back yard does not cost money, need training or special equipment—just drinks and snacks for hungry campers. Building a tree house or fort in your backyard can also be a family adventure.
Instead of putting money into new video games, use some of your money to buy a tent, sleeping bags, and maybe camping equipment. If you give your family the opportunity to really camp in a national forest or campground, you will discover animal sights and sounds and enjoy hikes through the forest, over streams and rocks.
Encourage your ‘wired' children to play outside and look around the neighborhood, to explore and name trees and flowers, even weeds.
Are you spending your time looking after your children trying to keep them safe and out of trouble? Parents, you need skills and confidence to lead your own family adventures which will give your children ways to be safe, assess danger and take risks. When you are not around, you can trust them to use good judgment and know danger and risks if you talk about your own “adventures,” what you did well and what went wrong. You can teach them to think for themselves, develop curiosity and confidence as they build resilience. Help them to explore and learn for themselves. Let them get some bruises, stings, and scraped knees. You will not always be there for them as they grow older. Help them learn to take care of themselves. They are everyday explorers if you let them.
The website familyadventureproject.org/kids-need-adventure-parents-need–to-teach-them-how/ is a great resource for families. “10 Life Lessons from 10 Years of Adventure with Kids” gives advice for facing the challenges of taking your children into a natural learning environment, how to keep you and your children in shape as you adventure, how to enjoy each other and create memories, and more.