I recently bought this Safari Around the World Toob (from Michael's) and set up a matching activity for the girls. Both girls (ages 2 and 5) LOVE playing with the landmark figures, and they also enjoy matching the figures to the pictures.
I was excited when I remembered that I had famous landmark cards (from the Target dollar section), so we had matching cards for all but 2 of the landmarks. To do this work, E(2) and I laid out the cards and then took out the landmarks one by one to match them.
E(2) picked up the Statue of Liberty and said "I want to go see her one day!" When we drove by our local courthouse, she said "there's the empire state building!" One day when we were playing in our yard, she kept saying "Machu Picchu" over and over again.
Both girls (and their mama and daddy) want to go see the real Eiffel Tower one day!
This fun work is a great addition to our cultural studies! Obviously, due to our family's current medical situation (Elliott's brain tumor), the organization of the next cultural exchange is on hold. However, once he is well, I plan on getting it set up again. For the next exchange, I plan to create groups of 4 (each person sends out 3 packages), so you may want to start collecting trinkets and fun things. Please do not email asking to be a part of the exchange because I am not starting the organization now...just giving you a heads up!
Let me know if anyone else sets up this work for your kiddos! It's so much fun to hear such little ones talking about famous landmarks (that I'd probably never heard of until high school!), and it really inspires them to learn more about each place. What fun!
In love with this activity. I am in the middle of writing a post on books to teach your child about the world...this activity fits right into that theme. thank you for sharing...
ReplyDeleteLOVE THIS! Just bought the famous landmarks from amazon, do you know where I can find the cards??
ReplyDeleteIf they don't have them at Target anymore, then I don't know where you'd find them. I'm planning to print some pics from the internet for the last 2 landmarks, so that would probably be the easiest and cheapest thing to do.
ReplyDelete@Mel V Designs: Montessori Print Shop might have landmark printables for a couple of bucks. I am definitely going to check! This looks great!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing. :)
They will likely have those cards again at back to school time at Target. We had this activity on our shelves a while back and it was equally popular. I love toobs.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the link (your link seems broken, fyi, but I found them by googling). I wonder how much overlap there is with Usborne's famous buildings book, that I keep meaning to buy (http://tinyurl.com/89ac3hn). Now I want both!
ReplyDeleteI saw these last time I was at Michael's and thought they were really cool. I was mulling over the possibility of gluing them in place on an old globe we have....your post reminded me to go see if this idea will work even though the objects will be out of scale...
ReplyDeleteI got the cards from Target almost 2 years ago and saw the toob at Michael's a while back and meant to go back to get them with a 40% off coupon. I got them today and they were a big hit with my toddler. Missing landmark pictures easily found on google images. The Mayan pyramid wich at first I thought was the one in Chichen Itza is actually the Pyramid temple of Pacal Votan, Palenque, Mexico.
ReplyDeleteI am new to your site. In fact, I am not sure how I landed here today but, I love this idea! I've looked at Muji, famous places blocks, year after year, and passed them by because I decide, ultimately, these are going to get lost in the clutter. This is the perfect solution! Thank you for sharing. One can see the second you arrive at your site, the care and attention to detail you are bringing into your home -- it's lovely to see... thank you for sharing. I look forward to returning.
ReplyDeleteThis is an amazing project! Love it!
ReplyDeleteMelissa, thank you for this idea! I pinned it and finally remembered to pick up the Toob at Michaels two days ago. The kids loved the activity! We don't have the cards and we don't even have a big enough world map, but we have the Usborne Children's Atlas which has drawings of the landmarks on the different continents. The kids enjoyed spotting the drawings (like I Spy!) and then matching them up with the Toob replicas. We were able to match up 8 of the 10 replicas, excluding the Empire State building (too close to the Statue of Liberty) and the Arch of Triumph. I linked to your post from our family blog - it's in the link list below. If anyone wants to see the cover of the atlas, it's on my blog post.
ReplyDeleteThat is the coolest toy! I just ordered one through your link and can't wait to see what my kids think about them. Thanks for the idea.
ReplyDeleteLove this! Gotta get my hands on one of those landmark toobs!
ReplyDeleteThese pictures are beautiful and the toobs are brilliant aren't they? We travel a lot for work so my kids are always interested in the countries. Thanks
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