Montessori Inspired ASIA Continent for Preschoolers

Vito is 39 months old.

This month, I’m helping Vito explore the Asia continent .  We’ve started continent study last year, which was followed by an exploration of the penguins in Antarctica.  We occasionally look at Maps and work on the continent puzzle, and based on my observation, Vito is ready to learn about Asia.

ASIAN CONTINENT MAP

We are using the Montessori Continent Puzzle Map to introduce each of the continent with focus on Asia.  We also used our lovely book Maps to look at the different countries in Asia, the pictures of animals, people and landmarks.  I placed significant animals and landmarks in the map just to make Vito aware of the “things” that belong to that continent.

ASIAN TREASURES

I collect trinkets/souvernir items whenever we travel.  You can get precious memorablia in Duty Free shops within airports and of course from local shops as well.

I also added a photo album of Asia.  The album is mostly a collection of photos about culture and traditions of people in Asia.  So think of this as my Asia in a Nutshell toddler/preschool version.  We skim the album from time to time.  Vito loves looking at the pictures and would ask me gazillions of questions right after.  It’s a good way to tell them stories of Asia and a perfect language activity too!  NOTE:  If you are interested in making an album, our Asian Photo Album for Preschoolers is available from the shop.

ASIAN ANIMALS

Kids are always drawn to animals, so whenever I discuss animals these days, I always mention where these animals live.  So for Asia, I would tell Vito that this is their home and where they live.  As you can see, I’m using this printable of ours (Montessori Inspired Animal Continents Activity Sheets) to identify some of the animals that live in Asia.  This printable/activity was inspired by the Nienhuis Animal Continent material.  Right now, Vito is all “what’s this Mom?” and then I would name it and he would match it to the picture.  I have a blank version of this which we will work later on once he has progressed with this activity. This product is available in the shop (Montessori Animal Continents Activity Sheets).

I also made some picture cards (Montessori Animals of Asia 3 Part Cards and Fact Cards) for our Schleich/Papo collection of animals in Asia.  This is also a favourite in the house by both boys.  These are real images of animals in their natural habitat.  So aside from identifying the animals, I also described their habitat like whether they live in forest, ocean or river etc.  Vito would work on this in the morning as I made this available in the shelf for him to explore independently.  So here we have tiger, orangutan, giant panda, camel (bactrian or dromedary), peacock and komodo dragon.

ASIAN FLAGS

For some reason, Vito is fascinated with flags. Because Mavi and I do “afterschool” lessons on geography, he was introduced to flags when he was a lot younger and up until now, he still loves them.  Because of this, I prepared flag activities for him to work on.  First is the 3 part cards of some Asian country flags that he frequently encounters.  I printed these cards many years ago, Mavi have used these already and so happy that Vito gets to work on this as well.  The 3 part cards are available here.

Flag puzzles inspired by Nienhuis flag puzzle material.  Our local Montessori shop has a limited supply of materials thus I make my own whenever I can (as long as it doesn’t consume much of my time!).  These are easy to prepare.  I printed them in thick photo paper and laminated them in thick pouch as well to make them sturdy.

ASIAN LANDMARKS

Simple matching activity for landmarks.  I’m not sure if Vito can grasp the concept of this yet so we’ll have to see.  He’s worked on these last year but has no idea what they are really.  You can get these landmarks from here (Montessori Landmarks of Asia 3 Part Cards and Fact Cards).

PARTS OF A CAMEL

This idea was inspired by a blogger friend who is the owner and author of Trillium Montessori.  Seemi always includes an animal 3 part cards in each of her continent study so I decided to do it as well in our homeschool.  For Asia, I decided to explore the parts of a camel.  These cards are included in my Asia in a Nutshell (you can also buy Montessori Parts of a Camel Learning Pack separately just follow this link) and has been used by Mavi 3 years ago.  Finding a camel (dromedary) is such a challenge so for now we’re using a Bactrian camel for the presentation.

Because Vito is only 39 months old, I decided to introduce just the basic parts of a camel.  These are the parts that he will most likely relate to his own body, plus the one thing that makes a camel… unique, the hump! Another thing is that since we’re starting to learn how to read, he will be exposed to words like head, body, nose, legs etc.

If you are interested in our Asian continent products, here’s a summary of what we have:

• Asia in a Nutshell
• Asian Photo Album for Preschoolers
• Flags of Asia
• Montessori Animals of Asia 3 Part Cards and Fact Cards
• Montessori Landmarks of Asia 3 Part Cards and Fact Cards
• Asian Cuisine
• China Learning Pack: Reading Materials, Activity Pages and Cards
• Japan Learning Pack: Reading Materials, Activity Pages and Cards

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