Continent Study of South America

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South America Continent Maps and Flags

Whenever we worked a geography lesson at home(for elementary only!), I always start with maps and flags because I wanted him to know the location and flags of certain cities from that continent. We travel a lot, crossing countries and continents almost every year and so knowing all these will be useful. The Montessori Continent Puzzle that we are using is from Tower High Learning.

Pinning flags in the map is an activity Mavi loves since we started geography years ago. I printed the map from Super Teacher and used our pin maps from South American Flags (pin maps, 3 part cards, mini flags and all).

South America Continent Landmarks

We identified the famous landmarks of South America and their location on the map. I also showed Mavi some photos of my Dad (Mavi’s grandfather) in Brazil when he visited Christ the Redeemer. Mavi was fascinated that his grandfather reached South America during his travels!

Galapagos Islands and its animals. Using the Safari Toobs Galapagos, we talked about the unique animals that inhabit the islands. I created identification cards (as reading materials for Mavi) so he will learn what makes those animals unique.

South America Continent Animals and their Habitats

I love talking about animals and their habitats. My Mavi has always been fascinated with different animals living in each continent. To start off, we reviewed the different animals living in South America, these cards are from my South American Animals learning pack. There’s so much information in these cards like the class of the animal (mammal, reptile, bird, etc.), the habitat in which they thrive and the kind of food they eat. We also matched them with our animal figures from Safari Rainforest Toob.

We also talked about the colorful animal coverings and patterns of the South American animals and compared them to those in Africa. Just by looking at the animals’ coverings, you will know in which habitat they thrive. Most colorful animals like that of Macaw birds and poisonous frogs live in the rainforest while those that are grayish, thrive in the desert. You will find these animal covering printables from our South America in a Nutshell learning material.

South America Continent Animals Skin Covers

Because we looked into the animals of South America, we also examined the green iguana which mostly lives in that continent. We haven’t worked on reptiles before, so this was a good start on learning the different parts of a reptile and differentiate it from birds, fish, frogs, and mammals.

South America Continent Plants

Talking about habitats led us to discuss the plants of South America. These plants mostly grow in the tropical areas of the continent and the cold mountains of Andes. These cards are from the Plant Atlas learning pack.

South America Continent Culture and Traditions

I’ve collected important facts about South America and included them in our learning cards in our South America in a Nutshell learning material. These cards are for older children who love to read and learn about the culture, lifestyle, and religion of the people of South America.

These cards provide information on how people dress up, what food they eat, the products they export to other countries and some more information of each South American country.

Because South America has brought us dances like Tango and Samba, Mavi and I also watched a few videos online to see how these dances are being performed. We also watched the festivals celebrated in South America, like the Tango Festival and the Carnival in Brazil.

Summary of Learning materials used:

South America in a Nutshell. More about it here.
Animals of South America
Landmarks of South America
Flags of South America
Animal Habitats
Safari Toobs Rainforest
Continent Map from Tower High Learning or from Amazon
Safari Toobs Galapagos

Another fantastic geography lesson that we had early this year was the study of Africa Continent. Click here (Continent Study of Africa) or the image below for more details on our learning activities.