Culture and Traditions of People Around the World

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Welcome to another year and another series of the 12 Months of Montessori. For this month, my friends and I are going to showcase Montessori Cultural activities.  If you are a reader of my blog, you know so well that we travel a lot, thus Mavi has grown into a lover of geography and enjoys learning about different places and different culture.  Also, we’ve been doing a number of continent studies for years. You can check some of my popular posts on geography below:

• A Continent Study of AFRICA
• A Continent Study of South America
• History of Ancient Europe
• Animals Around the World Activity
• The Study of Ancient Egypt
• Study of Ancient China

To start with, I have been collecting Playmobil playsets and figures, they’re one of the best toys my kids have and greatest investment for me so far as we get to use them in our homeschool as well. We use these figures to represent a certain country in each continent, to have a better idea of the traditions and practices of the people.

Culture and Traditions Around the World Toy Figures

This has been a long time dream of mine, to have a collection of dolls that represent countries in the world.  Those kinds of dolls are hard to find though and more expensive.  Then I discovered Playmobil and realized that they produce historical figures and playsets with important icons like Samurai, Mongols, Vikings, Princess, Flamenco dancers etc!  So I started collecting them!


So each of these figures signifies the tradition, culture and the people of a certain country.

Culture and Traditions Around the World Costume Cards

I love the figures so much that I wanted to have cards that will go along with them, so I made these traditional clothing cards to match my Playmobils.  Here’s what I came up with! You can buy these printable cards from my store through this link: Multicultural Traditional Costume Cards or click the image below.

South America and North America Continent Costume Cards

Here are the “models”!  Brazil – Carnaval dancer, Argentina – Gaucho, USA – Native American, Canada – Mounty

Asia and Australia Continent Costume Cards

China – Mongol/Chinese warrior,  Japan – Samurai, Saudi Arabia – Genie magician, Australia – Aboriginal

Europe Continent Costume Cards

United Kingdom – Victorian lady, Italy – Gladiator, Norway – Viking lord, Germany – Bavarian lady

Africa Continent Costume Cards

South Africa – South African lady,  Kenya – Maasai tribe leader, Egypt – Ancient Egyptian

Continent Matching Activity with Toy Figures

After pairing the Playmobil figures with the cards, I asked Mavi to place them on their appropriate location on our continent puzzle map!  I’m using the Montessori Continent Puzzle Map, from Tower High Learning (UK) or from Amazon UK.  If you are in the US, you can get yours from Amazon US.


Since I can’t get enough of my little people, here are some close-up shots of my figures. They are adorable!







Now to learn more about each of the figures and the countries they represent, I created learning packs of Spain, Greece, Egypt, Japan, China, and Australia (these are the ones I made as of the moment, check my shop for more learning materials in the future).  Mavi loves our booklets.  He enjoys reading and coloring them, learning about each country and working on his own DIY booklets!  Now I just have to stop here, and talk about these learning materials soon! If you are interested in buying some of these COUNTRY STUDY LEARNING PACKS just click any of the images below.







Finally, we also used our continent fact cards of course.  These fact cards contain information about the people living in a particular continent.  I wrote the facts in a way that my son can easily absorb and understand. The fact cards are from my CONTINENT GEOGRAPHY NUTSHELL SERIES:

• Africa in a Nutshell
• Asia in a Nutshell
• Australia / Oceania in a Nutshell
• Europe in a Nutshell
• North America in a Nutshell
• South America in a Nutshell

This post is part of the 12 Months of Montessori Learning which is hosted by Natural Beach Living and The Natural Homeschool.


Visit my friends’ post as well, they have the most amazing ideas too!

Easy Ways to Teach Montessori Culture (Free Printables) | Natural Beach Living
Montessori Culture: Holidays & Observances during the Calendar Year {Free Printables} | The Natural Homeschool
Montessori Cultural Areas and Activities for Multi-Level Learning | Living Montessori Now
Exploring North America with my Preschooler | Planting Peas
DIY Montessori Flag Pin Map | The Kavanaugh Report
Children of the World Activities | Mama’s Happy Hive
Montessori Culture 3-6 Checklist | Study at Home Mama
Cultural Landmarks around the World (Free Printables)   | Christian Montessori Network
Culture & Traditions of People Around the World | The Pinay Homeschooler
Culture Studies: Finding Topics | Grace and Green Pastures