Montessori Inspired Europe Continent Study for Kids Part I

With our recent trip to Spain, I decided to do a brief Europe Unit for Vito while he still can't stop talking about his plane ride and how fun it was to go to places.  The activity trays I prepared for him are designed for kids 5 years and older.  This is the first part of our unit and most of these are introductory lessons to maps and flags.  I've never had a Europe Unit with him before so I kept this simple and we'll be doing more in-depth activities as he progresses.

Europe Continent Study: 3 Part Cards

This is a new version of continents 3 part cards which I will be adding in our learning pack here.  The focus of this matching activity is to become familiar of the location of the continents (they are highlighted).  I will add this version to the mentioned learning pack at the end of the month.

Objectives:

• identify the location of the continents in the map
• able to name the continents

Europe Continent Study: Coloring of Flags

I picked a few familiar flags for Vito and he did some coloring.  We are using the Flags of the World Coloring Pages from the shop and the coloring blocks from STOCKMAR 16 Blocks Waterproof Beeswax Paint Blocks in Tin Box.

Objectives:

• practice of fine motor skills through coloring
• identify the colors of the flags 
• name and identify the flags (familiarization)

Europe Continent Study: Biomes of Europe

This is one of the new topics that we talked about as he was able to experience sunny Spain.  Compared to Ireland, it was more sunny and warm in Spain.  So I knew I needed to discuss this with him to make him aware that climate and weather varies for each country, depending on its location on the map.  I will be adding this activity soon in my nutshell series.

Objectives:

• awareness of the different weather and biomes of each country and location in Europe
• introduce familiar biomes: dessert, forests, taiga, etc. based on our Montessori Inspired Animal World Habitats Learning Pack

I used our Habitats Around the World to show Vito the images of some of these Biomes.

Europe Continent Study: Foods in Europe

The boys had so much fun with food tasting in Spain!  So I'm adding this activity in our unit this year. I first used the European Foods Montessori 3 Part Cards with Vito to introduce some iconic foods from Europe.  Then we used our PlayDoh for imaginative restaurant play of making the foods.  We used the PlayDoh set which he got from Christmas last year.

Objectives:

• identify and name foods that originated from Europe
• imaginative play
• if available, purchase some foods packed and distributed from Europe (feta cheese, crepes, tortilla, chorizo, etc.)

Europe Continent Study: Pinning Flags

A favorite activity of the boys.  Here, the child learns about the location of the country by pinning it's flag.  The map is from Montessori Print Shop and the flags are homemade.

Objectives:

• name and identify the flags
• associate the flags to the European countries

Europe Continent Study: Letter Writing

Vito wanted to write letters on rice tray again!  I have no idea why but all of a sudden he requested to do this activity so I prepared a "knights and castle" writing theme for him since we climbed the Gibralfaro Castle in our last trip.  The Letter and Number Cards Knights Theme will be available in this bundle.

Objectives:

• sensorial activity
• fine motor skills through writing practice
• literacy (letters and numbers)

Europe Continent Study: Counting Syllables

This activity is for the child to be able to pronounce the name of the countries properly.  We used our Montessori European Flags in 3 Part Cards and Blackline Masters and some red glass gems in counting the syllables.

Objectives:

• counting practice
• learning how to properly pronounce the name of the countries
• naming and identifying European flags

Europe Continent Study: Landmarks and Structures

We talked about the landmarks in Europe and plotted them on the map (this is in my Part II post), then we created some of these structures using our LEGO.  I did a similar activity (The Study of Northern Europe) with Mavi years ago, but with flags.

Objectives:

• familiarization of the different landmarks in Europe
• name the landmarks
• fine motor skills and STEM by building and creating the structures with LEGO
• imaginative play

Safari Toobs here are from:

• Safari Ltd World Landmarks TOOB
• Safari Ltd Around The World
• Safari Super Toob Ancient Rome Miniatures

Europe Continent Study: Geography Album

We love our Europe Geography Album!  These are collection of pictures which shows the life and culture of people around Europe.  Vito and I would read and skim through them, then we would identify the country from which a picture was taken and he selects the flag to match the picture.  This is a great way to practice flag identification and learning about culture and people at the same time.

Objectives:

• familiarization of the different culture and lives of people in Europe
• retelling of stories (if the child has traveled to the place, he can also share his/her own experience)

Other posts related to Europe or other continent study:

• Montessori Geography Folders


• Hands-on Learning on the European Regions


• The Study of Northern Europe

More learning materials at Pinay Homeschooler Shop.

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