8 Fun Geography Games and Activities for Kids
Is your child too impatient to study for an entire evening and gets bored with a topic very easily? These games and activities would come as a saviour to you then. Learning Geography and places around the world would now be ten times more interesting as well as easy with these fun activities and games for kids.
Exciting Geography Games and Activities for Children
Children are very easily bored by reading two pages of their textbook, but when it comes to games, they are never really bored with it. So, how about teaching them Geography through some fun activities and games? The world map games for kids would not only help sustain the child’s attention but also help them retain quite some information for a longer period of time. The best part certainly is that they will never be bored with these games and would want to play them again and again!
1. Don’t Puzzle the Places
Children are always fascinated by puzzles and would go on trying to solve them until they do so perfectly. You can use this very idea to help him develop his basic concepts about the continents of the world.
How to play
The game is simple to make. Take a world map and cut out the continents into big puzzle pieces which can be rejoined to form the entire world map. Now jumble them up and let your child solve the puzzle to build the map on his own. Once he is successful, encourage him to do it quicker the next time.
What Kids will Learn
Kids will not only learn to locate the continents but also develop motor coordination by working on puzzle pieces and time management by trying to finish it sooner.
2. Direct it On
Directions form an important and basic part of Geography, and it is extremely important that your child has the basic concept about them right from the beginning so that it does not create a problem in grasping the subject later on. This activity would help your child develop the basic concept about the eight directions.
How to play
Draw a compass to teach the directions in details to your child. Then take him out to a playground and instruct him to move, jump or point towards a certain direction to find out if he has learnt it well. This would work better as a group activity as they would develop healthy competition among themselves.
What Kids will Learn
Kids would learn to follow instructions and get a vivid idea about the different directions.
3. Can You Name Them?
If your little one has just learnt the 7 continents of the world, this would be a perfect game to test their knowledge of it. It would be best to keep a stopwatch while your kid plays it as that would help you monitor his improvements gradually.
How to play
Take a map where the continents are marked separately, but their names are not identified. You can also create one such map if it is not readily available. Now give your child little pieces of paper with all the names written on them and ask him to match them with the continents on the map in as little time as possible.
What Kids will Learn
Kids will learn the skills of identification and matching apart from time management.
4. Point it Out
The most conventional yet effective activity for children to identify continents, countries, states and even cities is the map pointing or pointing out on the globe. This is an activity which children from five to eight years old can indulge in. While 5-year-old kids can point out the newly learnt continents, eight-year-old children can point out the cities, districts or even rivers they have learnt about.
How to play
Simply name a particular state, city or river, and ask your child to point it out on the globe or on a world map. The faster they can find out, the more the points they would be awarded.
What Kids will Learn
This would be a test of the kid’s retention capacity of what he has learnt earlier.
5. Foodie Fiesta
Does your kid have an interest in the cuisine in a country? This activity would be his favourite. This is most suited for children of around 8-9 years old and would make them enjoy every part of Geography!
How to play
In order to play this game, your child should know the staple food of each state of a particular country, for example, India. Once he knows this, take a political outline map of India and give him the staple food of each of the states. Ask him to put those grains in the particular state where it belongs to.
What Kids will Learn
Kids will learn the skills of correlation and will retain the learnt information better.
6. Around the World from A-Z
This would be a perfect activity for children aged around 5-6 years who have just learnt the names of several states or cities. Your child is sure to develop a deep interest in the subject once he indulges in such a fun and interesting activity.
How to play
The rules of this game are simple. Just pick a letter for your child and ask him to locate a state or a city that begins with that particular letter on the globe. The sooner he does that, more the points he is awarded. This too can be played as a group activity.
What Kids will Learn
Kids would learn to retain the names they have learnt. They would also develop the skill of locating one place out of the numerous places on the globe.
7. Learn the Hierarchy by Heart
When your kid first learns about the continents, counties, states cities and so on all together, in most cases, he might get confused about which is bigger in size. So, it is extremely important for him to learn the hierarchy properly and this game would help him remember it is quite an interesting way.
How to play
Choose a particular continent and give your child some names of countries, cities and states belonging to that continent. Draw a hierarchical chart for him and ask him to organise the names into that chart carefully.
What Kids will Learn
Kids will learn the skills of organisation and the tackling of raw data.
8. Capital Counting
If your child has mastered remembering the names of all countries and states, it is time for him to learn about the capitals as well. This game would let them retain the names of each capital in a fun and interesting way.
How to play
Once your child has learnt the names of the capitals, give him a political map of the world and ask him to write down the names of each capital against each state. Give him a time frame where he would have to complete a fixed number of states.
What Kids will Learn
Kids will learn to think in an organised manner apart from proper time management.
So now that you gave these ideas help your child fall in love with the subject. Studies are always better when you enjoy them, and your kids will surely have a unique and interesting perception of Geography with these fun activities and games.
Also Read: Memory Games for Kids