World Map Fun with Landmarks and Animals

I bought this world map cloth panel about 6 months ago with the intention of using it in a quilt (I bought it from Walmart for less than 5 dollars). After a few months, I realized that was never going to happen, and I forgot about it for a while. After I bought the landmarks toob, I realized the landmark buildings would be the perfect size for this map. The problem was that I couldn't find the map! I finally found it (about a week before we left for Elliott's surgery), and I cut around the edges with pinking shears (SO much easier than hemming the edges) and introduced the work to the girls! Both girls LOVE this work! We spread the map out and then we talked about each landmark and it's location before finding the appropriate location on the map. E(2) especially liked it when I gave her animals to use with this map! The only problem is that the map wrinkles easily if they crawl over it or sit on it. The nicest thing about it is that the map folds up very nicely to fit on our Montessori shelf. The girls received penguin and arctic toobs for Easter (bought from Pottery Barn kids...on sale and with free shipping!), and I am looking forward to getting home so we can incorporate these animals into our map work!

Learning about South Africa

The girls and I had fun learning about South Africa during February.  We didn't do as many activities as I planned, but we still had fun and learned a lot.

We started off our studies by coloring the South African flag...

and pictures of African children (both coloring sheets are from Activity Village). We found Africa on our large wall map and put the appropriate animals on the continent. We read lots of books about Africa. and we watched videos of children in Africa on Discovery Streaming.

Playing with Sunlight

I love the way the sun shines through our color blocks! Building in a stream of sunlight with these blocks is such a simple, soothing, and beautiful activity. E(2)'s blue hand. Yellow and blue feet I'm pretty sure that I like this activity even more than the kids do :) Here's a link to blocks that are similar to ours. All links to amazon are affiliate links. Thanks for supporting Chasing Cheerios.

A Day at O(5)'s School

I was a substitute teacher at O(5)'s school on Tuesday, and she was THRILLED! E(2) was also very excited that we got to stay all morning, and she got to eat snack and have recess with O and her friends. Spending the day with my girls in a real schoolroom helped me to realize that we really need a dedicated room for our homeschool next year. It's so much more peaceful to have so few distractions and to be able to focus on just a few things at a time. Here are a few pics from our morning... E(2) really enjoyed this water dropper work. I need to set up something like this for her at home. O(5) enjoyed doing lots of "relaxing" work. They both love polishing silver. We have the knobless cylinders and pattern cards at home. We don't use them very often, but E(2) recently enjoyed using them. I need to put them on a lower shelf, so that she can reach them a little easier. O(5) was proud to show us how to polish a plant's leaves. This is another work that I want to set up at home.

Continent Puzzle Map Work

The continent puzzle map was one of E(2)'s most frequently chosen activities in February...she LOVES it! We sing the continent song as we work, and we do the puzzle together. 

 We also listen to Geography Songs, and E and O both LOVE the British Isles song...it's very catchy and it sticks in your head after you listen to it a few times. We all randomly break out into singing "The British Isles! The British Isles! In the Atlantic across the channel from France..."

                                                                     

Famous Landmarks Work

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!