We are revisiting our Europe study, this time I’ve decided to take it by regions. But before we delve into that, we reviewed some of the things we’ve learned in the past years.
European Regions. Here’s a new study for this year, learning Europe through each regions. Here I was showing Mavi the divisions and the boundaries in the map. I bought this map years ago at Montessori Print Shop. So we’re doing a color code here based on our map in Europe in a Nutshell. Blue for northern Europe, red for western Europe, green for eastern Europe and orange for southern Europe.
Flags. The same goes to the flags. To be able to remember the countries easily, we just limit to 3-4 countries per region. You can get these mini-flags from my Flags of Europe printable.
We always worked the pin flags because Mavi enjoys this activity. The pin flags are included in my Flags of Europe file. My pin flags are really old and has been used so many times. I shall make a new set for Xavi when he needs it.
Animals of Europe. Mavi is sometimes confused of the animal list between North America and Europe so we always review this. The fact cards seen here are from my Animals of Europe printable (includes 3-part cards as well).
New activity this year is examining and matching European animals with their covers. This was a hit! My animal figures matches the printable. How cool is that? The animal covers are part of my Europe in a Nutshell and the animal figures are from Schleich.
Here’s a closer look.
Landmarks. Beautiful and historical landmarks in Europe are too many to mention, so in this study we’re only picking a few based on the regions. My aunt who visited us early this year brought me a few Safari Toobs and one of which is the landmark toob that includes the Stonehenge in UK and the Colosseo in Rome. You can get the World Landmarks and Around the World Toob from Amazon and the cards are from Europe Landmarks file.
Now to put into action, Mavi worked sorting maps and flags according to regions using our Europe Puzzle Map. More about it here.
For our past Europe studies and materials, click the links below:
Continent Study: Europe Part I (Kindergarten)
Continent Study: Europe Part II (Kindergarten)
Learning About the European Regions
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Mavi can’t get enough of these facts cards from my Nutshell series! He wants us to play this when in the car, or just by walking home. I would ask him a questions based on the facts and he’s going to tell me the continent or the country it’s connected to. We developed a scheme of giving him 3 clues (mostly letters from the answers) and I am PROBIHIBITED to give the answer. It’s amazing how both Mavi and I enjoyed it. So happy that we found a new way to use these cards!
These cards are from:
<div align="center"><a href="http://christianmontessorinetwork.com/category/learn-and-play" title="Christian Montessori Network"><img src="http://www.christianmontessorinetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/learn-and-play-link-up-150-150.png" alt="Christian Montessori Network" style="border:none;" /></a></div>My son’s favourite continent (according to him!) is finally up in my Sellfy store today! I am so excited and happy to announce that I’ve completed our learning material for Europe which is now cooking in the printer, to be laminated and will be used in a couple of weeks for our Europe study! Mavi just loves my Nutshell series and can’t wait to try it with Vito in the near future!
Here are the learning materials included in the file:
1. Maps. You will see the different countries comprising Europe and the regions. Familiarizing the regions of Europe will help you understand the people, the diversity in culture and practices. And, of course… this will be of great help if you want to travel to Europe!
2. History Timeline Cards. Europe has significant contribution to world history and I included some of the major events that occurred in the ancient times. Some of these pictures are taken during our travels!
3. Fact Cards. 54 cards about Europe! From Count Dracula to Mozart, to the beautiful cities of Rome and ruins of Greece! So many things to learn and explore about this small yet fascinating continent!
4. Animal Skin Patterns. My son loves these cards and I just have to include it! Learn about the animals that lives in Europe and see up-close their unique covers.
5. Red Fox and Snowy Owl Nomenclature Cards. These cards are intended for younger learners. A fun way to learn about a specific animal that thrives in Europe and their different parts.
How exciting! Can’t wait to share a post on how we use these. Thank you and hope you like it!
Other Nutshell series available: (Click on the image for the link)
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Map 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 memorize 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 is really important. The Montessori Continent Puzzle is from Tower High Learning.
Pinning flags in the map is an activity Mavi loves since we started geography year 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).
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.
Animals and their Habitats. I love talking about animals and their habitats. My Mavi has always been fascinated with at different animals living in each continent. To start off, we review the different animals living in South America, these cards are from my South American Animals. There’s so much information from these cards, like it indicates the class of the animal (mammal, reptile, bird etc), the habitat in which they thrive and the kind of foods they eat. We also matched them with our animal figures from Safari Toob Rainforest.
We also talked about the colourful 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 colourful animals like that of Macaw birds and poisonous frogs lives in rainforests, while those that are grayish, thrives in deserts.
Because we looked into the animals of South America, we examined the green iguana which mostly lives in that continent. We haven’t worked on reptiles before, so this was a good start of learning the different parts of a reptile and differentiate it from birds, fish, frogs and mammals.
Plants. Talking about habitats led us to discuss 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.
Culture. I’ve collected important fact about South America and included it in our learning cards for our South America in a Nutshell. These cards are for older children who love to read and learn about the culture, lifestyle and religion of the people of South America. 
The cards provide information how people dress up, what foods they eat, the products they export to other countries and the richness of each South American countries.
Because South America has brought us dances like Tango and Samba, Mavi and I 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 Carnaval in Brazil.
Other materials that we used are the following:
Natural Resources of the World – information about the different natural resources found in each continent.
Animal Habitats – contains collection of animals that thrive in the different biomes of the world.
Major Rivers of the World – pictures and facts cards of the longest and most important rivers of each continent.
Another fantastic geography lesson we had early this year was the study of Africa. Click here or the image below for ideas and list of activities
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Learning materials used: