Homeschool Geography Activities for Kids & Teens

We live in a beautifully rich and diverse world. Geography education is an opportunity to celebrate the multitude of different countries their unique geography as well as the cultures and languages of the globe. As believers, it is a great way to envision our children to be mission-minded, to look at the different cultures prayerfully, and to see the nations as a field ripe for harvest. Regardless of the age of your children, there are many ways to incorporate geography activities for kids and teens into your week.

Engaging Geography Activities for Kids and Teens

The study of geography can be broadly split it into human geography and physical geography. Human geography considers the impact geography has on people and the impact we have on the surrounding environment. On a local level, this may look like how the land is farmed, how cities are planned, and how we use the land in certain ways and why.

On an international level, human geography may look at migration, the reasons behind poverty, and the economies of nations. Physical geography looks at the geographic features for example rivers, volcanoes, and earthquakes. Physical geography also considers how these features are formed and changed. We also look at how we use them, or how they impact people.

Thoughtful Geography Activities For Kids

Praying for the Nations

In our times of family devotions, it is a wonderful opportunity to pray for the nations. This may be a time to think about a current event that we should be bringing before the Lord. Or a wider focus of prayer like the bringing of the Gospel to a people group who have never heard the message of Jesus. The Window on the World: An Operation World Pray Resource is a great book to use in family devotions. Children learn about different nations and people groups, as well as the prayer needs of those people. Have a map or globe on hand to show where the nation is.

Open Doors UK also have various resources for free to use with children. Open Doors serves the modern-day persecuted church. The organisation was started by Brother Andrew, smuggling Bibles into Communist Europe, behind the Iron Curtain. Not only do they have activities for all ages, but they also have several excellent lesson plans for teens studying iGCSE Geography from a Christian perspective. The GCSE resource have great ideas for looking at human geography lessons, and they are free. Their Children’s Prayer Passport can also be used to teach children about the suffering church, as well as help with World Geography.

Hands-on Geography Activities for Kids

One of the must-have items for any home is either a good globe or a large world map. Both of these are a continual visual aid for children. They can also be referred to frequently, regardless of the subject, to identify a country or place under discussion. For younger children, a good habit to begin with is having them identify where they are first, then they can build a picture of their place in relation to other locations.

Making a papier-mâché planet earth with young children is a fun hands-on geography activity. Although young children will struggle to create a globe with the continents accurately depicted, you could have them mark an Equation, Arctic Circle, and Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. A good place to begin with for young children memorising geographic features is the continents and oceans. Youtube has many songs to aid memorisation, for example the continents’ song. Another fun geography craft is to make a salt dough map, this allows you to map out a place, or a pretend place and make rivers, mountains, valleys etc.

Geography Fun & Games

Geography jigsaw puzzles are a fun activity to have for your kids to do. There are so many on the market, which you can have for different times in your year depending on the focus of your study. Geography board games are also a creative way of including geography, such as Ticket Ride to Europe is a fun game for the whole family.

To introduce children to geography, beginning with their own local neighbourhood. Look at maps of your town, find your home and the street you are on. Can they draw a simple map of your street with the houses nearby? Introduce the concept of the compass points. Use chalk to make the cardinal directions on the pavement beside your home. Have them add this to their map. This idea can be developed to have them draw maps of family adventures, for example, if you visit a forest with a river or lake, have them draw a map of their route. Collect different types of maps, from orient survey maps to the maps in leaflets showing the trails in a national park.

For older children, look at your neighbourhood on an Orient Survey Map, discuss the grid system and learn how to read a 6-digit grid reference, identify the different symbols, find famous landmarks. Look at the physical features and the contour lines, try to describe the kind of landscape the map depicts. Perhaps organise an orienteering day for your local homeschool group. Sporty kids will love this physical geography activity and it will improve map reading skills.

Improve Mapping Skills with Geography Activities for Kids

Map skills can also be built by having a journey plotted on real-life paper maps and not relying on Google Maps. For older kids, this can include reading the scale and calculating the actual distance from the scale ratio.

Spend time weekly doing map work, this will help build knowledge about different parts of the world. Choose a continent a term and every week look at the countries there. Identify new countries each week. Over the term, try to memorise as many countries as possible. Online games like Seterra can be used to help with the memorization of countries.

A great family activity to look at world cultures is to have a weekly meal from another country. Have a lot of different countries and plan ahead to cook different meals, or have older children make the meals. For more exotic countries ingredients that may not be easily accessible in supermarkets can be bought online.

World Geography With for Teens

Having a comprehensive understanding of world geography enables kids to make sense of the world. Geography has shaped history, it continues to shape the political landscape today. Understanding these ideas makes teens better critical thinkers in regard to the world around them as well as encourging mission-minded thinking.

A hot topic in recent years has been the depiction of maps and racism. Have you noticed Africa is comparable to Greenland in size on a map? The reasons for this are mathematical: how to make a 2-dimentional representation of a 3-dimenstional spherical geometry. Therefore, the seemingly simple idea of creating accurate maps is fraught with political undertones.

An important principle that teens should be introduced to are the Five Themes of Geography, these are place, human & environment interaction, movement, and region. Looking at geography through the lens of the five themes allows a better understanding of the world around us, as well as the geopolitical landscape we currently see. Consider for example such important current events as the refugee crisis across Europe: we see the movement of vast numbers of people, the causes for this movement are human and environmental. 

Geography Activities for Kids & Teens: Projects

As with younger children, looking at your local neighbourhood can open up ideas about geography. Consider these ideas for geography projects:

1. Look at the different types of farming in your local neighbourhood. Conduct a survey to see how land is used through using maps and observation. Interview a local farmer about the challenges they are facing, as well as the reasons why they farm the land as they do. How does the geography of the region impact the types of farming you see.
2. Impact of tourism. Consider a local tourist stop, create a survey to look at how people travelled to visit, why they visited, how far they travelled, if they will spend money in local businesses etc. Consider the impact tourism has on the region, both positively and negatively.
3. Physical geography: look at a river near your home. Survey the river, looking at how it changes as it moves through the landscape. How do people use the river, this may be recreationally or through business. Can you identify geographic features on the river. Try taking measurements of water speed, depth, width, etc. along the river at different locations.

Geography Field Trips

To look at physical geography, field trips are a tangible way to explore geography. Visit a local river, but do so by looking at different parts of the river in different stages of its journey to the sea. If possible find the source of the river, this is particularly fun if the river becomes a large imposing one, as many rivers begin with a small bogging region high in the hills. Find tributaries to the river, as well as map the catchment of the river (this is the region of land where rainfall feeds into the river).

Take a hike in the hills to identify V-shaped valleys formed by rivers, and U-shaped valleys formed by glaciation. Look for other features of glaciation. In the UK much of our mountain regions are formed by volcanism and glaciation. Research where to see the evidence of this. If possible, try to organise a geology talk, perhaps contact Creation Ministries or Answers in Genesis to arrange a talk with an expert in creation geology.

Coastal regions are rich places to explore geography. Learn about the different features along the coast. Coastal erosion is an important topic in many regions, look for signs that people are trying to combat coastal erosion. Contact local rangers to arrange a talk about coastal geography.

Geography Activities for Kids: Book List

• World Atlas: this is an essential for geography. Choosing a quality atlas with detailed maps, as well as other important information, such as climate maps, economic data, etc. that links the physical and human geography together.
• Maps by Aleksandra and Daniel Mizielinski: this is a beautifully illustrated book more suitable for middle schoolers.
• Give Your Child the World by Jamie Martin. Jamie Martin is a home school mum, who has compiled this list of books covering all grades and for the different continents. From picture books to novels, children will explore different nations and cultures. This is a fantastic resource to have on your shelf, and one you will keep coming back to time and time again (we do in our house!)
• A Child’s Geography by Ann Voksamp. Voksamp is another home school mum, and a beautiful writer. A Child’s Geography is a wonderful introduction to geography which is suitable for all the family. This Charlotte Mason style book will build a strong foundation of knowledge of geography for your child.

The Importance of Geography Activities for Kids & Teens

Finding a curriculum and way to teach geography which is Christ-centered is vitally important. Especially given the great importance of geography in forming a worldview, in particular a political worldview. Geography is a subject that can open teen’s eyes to the complex issues facing the world today. It an inspire them to take Christ to the nations. We live in a beautiful, diverse world and for this we rejoice and give praise. Yet we recognise the deep needs within the nations as well. Let us make envisioning our kids for the Great Commission a central goal in our homes.

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