5 Reasons to Love Geography!
1. Spatial awareness: In this age of digital navigation, knowing how to get from place to place without a satellite powered device is becoming a lost art. Teaching your kiddos the value of old fashioned navigation using a map not only empowers them with important skills that will come in handy on your next camping trip, but it also gives them a sense of place in this vast world. Understanding distance with your own two feet can inspire a pretty amazing sense of wonder, especially when looking at majestic mountains and grand oceans.
2. Geography is a passport to the entire world: Growing up in a big family meant that vacations were limited to wherever our car could take us, which mostly meant exploring the mountains of our home state of Colorado and playing in the rivers of Montana when we went to visit grandparents each summer. The rest of the world was a bit of a mystery to me, which made maps and geography a particularly interesting tool. As a kid, I’d imagine all the different cities and countries on a globe and browse through books to get a picture of what those locations might look like. Through books and maps I felt like I had a better understanding of far off places, which cultivated a serious desire for exploration and an appreciation for new experiences. Giving kids the tools to understand their world allows them to feel like it is exactly that: Their World to explore and enjoy.
3. Teach empathy through geography: When you look at a map, you’re not just looking at land masses, you’re also looking at cultures. Using geography at a jumping off point to learn more about these other cultures and how people all over the world live, gives children the opportunity to develop empathy, a skill that is priceless in this day and age. Looking for all of the ways we are similar and celebrating all of our differences leads to a perspective built on curiosity with a healthy dose of love and understanding.
4. Learn history through maps: All of those lines on a map were drawn by people, and all of those people have stories to tell. Teaching kids the stories of how our world was shaped integrates history into their lives in a way that is fun and inspiring. But that’s not even the best part of teaching kids history through geography. The best part about knowing how you got somewhere, is knowing where you want to go next. The future’s so bright, you gotta wear shades :)
5. Maps can be a jumping off point to the imagination: The common denominator for all great explorers in history is a healthy and robust sense of imagination. From early explorers seeking the new world, to astronauts making the trek into outer space, every last one of them depended on the strength of their imagination to help them innovate in their fields and get where they wanted to go. Encouraging your kiddos to make maps of imaginary spaces can build up that muscle in a big way. Who knows, you might just have the world’s next great scientist or inventor sitting at your kitchen table right now. Forget about the sky, imagination’s the limit!
Free Geography Activities:
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A few of our favorite Geography Supplies:
Make Map Art Book
National Park Bandana
Globe
Soap Carving Kit
xox
~i.c.