Understanding our place in the world

Geography is always an interesting subject if it is taught in a fun an interactive way. It is also an important part of the curriculum in the Montessori classroom. This is where children learn about the world around them.  

The Continent of Africa

Africa, Africa, Let’s all go to Africa….

Africa is the first continent that we studied. Here, we talked about the climate, the land form, the resources and the people of the continent. African continent box will be a treasure in the classroom, but since I do not have any collection of the objects, I used the Continent folder which I produced to aid in children’s learning. This folder is full of simple and interesting facts for kids to gain further knowledge of the continent.

African Continent Folder

The People Africa

Most people of African have dark skin. I’ve included pictures of kids and paper dolls in the folder and on the shelf to show children the differences and similarities.  

   

Animals of African - “The Big 5”

Home to many animals, this is another exciting unit to help kids learn more about the various safari animals – zebra, giraffe, lion, elephant and many more. Some animal models, guessing animal game was included as part of the shelf activity. We also studied the parts of an elephant.

Art and Crafts

This is the kids’ favorites. We did Adinkra panting using plastic fork! Adinkra fabric painting comes from Ghana. It is a printed or stamped traditional cloth made by he Ashanti people in the village of Ntonso. Regardless of age group, each came up with very unique piece. The key here is to allow children to explore painting through different mediums. We also did Khamsa craft, painting tea cups, threading necklace, braiding and many more. Learning are integrated through hands-on work and kids just cannot resist the fun!

Food of Africa

In the cookery activity, kids have fun making watermelon juice and eating yam. Although China does have Yam, the African Yam is bigger and longer in size. Kids also had the opportunity to feel the texture of a raw yam in this activity. 

Famous Landmarks

The study is not complete without getting-to-know the famous places in Africa. Mt. Kilimanjaro, Victoria falls, Pyramid, Sahara Desert are some of the famous places that were introduced in this unit. Flag pins were created for children to identify the location of these places on the puzzle map. You will see children spending endless time, working in groups to locate the place in the puzzle map. Motor skills were further refined through study of various flags in the different country of Africa. 

This ends our two weeks study of Africa.... Coming next, North and South America.