- A wooden hemispheric map with the continents cut out as puzzle pieces.
- Each piece has a small knob for lifting it.
- A plastic overlay with a line drawn for the equator. (Not shown in the photograph.)
- A mat
- The Painted Globe
Invite the child to come and work with you. Tell him that we are going to need a mat. Have him take out and unroll a mat. Bring him over to the puzzle maps and tell him that today we will be working with the puzzle map of the world. Show him how to carry the map and have him bring it over to the mat. Have him place it on the right side of the mat. Then have the child bring over the painted globe and have him place it to the left of the puzzle map. Have the child sit to your left.
Procedure
- Review the language for the Painted Globe.
- Bring the child’s attention to a specific continent on the globe and then show it on the map.
- Bring the child’s attention to the similarity of the globe and the map.
- Tell the child that the globe is a sphere of the world and the map is showing the world flat.
- Ask the child to but the Painted Globe back.
- Slowly, by using the knobs, take out three of the puzzle pieces (three different continents, not touching)
- Place each one on the mat to the left of the puzzle.
- Then replace them, one by one.
- Take out another three pieces and have the child replace them in their correct spot.
- Take out four of the pieces and have the child replace them correctly.
- Take out another four pieces and again have the child replace them correctly.
- Have the child take out all the pieces and then replace them.
- You take out three of the pieces.
- Give the names of the continents, i.e. Europe, North America, Antarctica.
- Repeat the names.
- Then ask the child to replace them, using their name. For example: “Please put back Europe.”
- Repeat until all of the pieces have been put back.
- Then ask the child to take out the same three pieces, one by one, and by name. For example, “Please take out Europe.”
- Once all three are out, ask the child, “What continent would you like to put back?” (The child should respond with the name of one of the continent.)
- Repeat this Three-Period lesson for the other continents until the child knows all of the continents by name.
Extension: The child can build the world puzzle outside of the puzzle board.
Continents: North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australasia, Antarctica.
Direct
Visual recognition of the forms and names of the continents, oceans, and hemispheres and their relationship to each other.
By using the map, the child can see and handle al parts of the earth.
Fitting the pieces together.
3 1/2 – 4 years
The names of the oceans can also be given, but the continent names are the
most important for the child to know.