Continent Studies with Preschoolers (FREE Printables included)

Geography is one of our favorite subjects in our homeschool. We LOVE to learn about continents, countries, flags, seasons, etc. Our passion for it is serious. We enjoy it so much that we want to not only invite you to see an awesome lesson that we did, but we also want you to get the FREE Printables for you to do this lesson at home.

This post will have lots of pictures. We are SO excited to be bringing you these lessons, free printables AND a great giveaway! Keep reading to find out what you can get once you enter.

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Let's start with the prep work (no children required for this part).
You will need:
- laminator
- 4 laminating pouches
- 2 copies of the FREE Printable 3-part cards (find link at the end of the lessons)
- Scissors or guillotine

Steps:
1. Print 2 copies of the FREE Printable
2. Laminate all 4 sheets
3. One set of cards will be cut WITH the name attached to the image (see below, left)
4. The second set will be cut SEPARATELY with name and image (see below, right)

All ready to begin! That was easy!

Continent Lesson (Part 1)

After I was done making the 3-part cards, we headed over to the homeschool room. We have a lovely Geography section that we love. We went over the continent maps on the wall and named the continents. We have a little rhyme we use to name off the continents. It helps us remember all seven of them. Then we got our inflatable globes and were finding and pointing at the different continents on them.

Next, I set out the first set of the 3-part cards (FREE PRINTABLE) and we went over those names.After that, I got the second set of the 3-part cards and handed Sister the images (since she is younger) and Brother the names (since he can read).


At first, Sister would match one of her continent pictures and then Brother would find the matching name and set it underneath the image that Sister had matched up.
They really enjoyed doing it several times. I was a bystander, not really guiding, just letting them do their lesson after I did the original Presentation of this work.
 
It is wonderful that it is a self-check activity and it can be done individually or in pairs (like in this case).

 

Continents Lesson (Part 2)

This is a really fun and cool extension to the basic 3-part cards lesson. I highly recommend it.

You will need:

- Terracotta clay (about 1lb for 2 children)

- Silicone Continent Mold (I got 2 so each child could use one)

- Oven

- Box or container to keep the terracotta continents once done baking them (We love our mini cocottes)

- Set of FREE printable 3-part cards (find link at the end of this lesson)

We got this terracotta block and our silicone continent molds set up on our kitchen counter and started kneading away. After the terracotta got soft enough, we started filling the continent cavities and pushing down hard to really pack it tight.
Once the molds were full and ready, I read both the instructions for the terracotta baking times and also learned what temperatures were ok to use the silicone molds in. Turns out, it is 450 degrees Fahrenheit, but the terracotta bakes at 275 degrees. 
They baked in about 20 minutes and then we let them cool in the molds for another 20 minutes or so. It was so cool pulling them out and seeing how well they turned out. We decided to leave them in the beautiful terracotta color, but you can paint yours if you prefer. It would be fun to have a set that matches the colors of the continent in the 3-part cards.
They are so much fun!

 

We put the terracotta continents in their mini cocottes and carried them back to the homeschool room.  

Once in the homeschool room, we went back to our 3-part cards and started to match up the terracotta continents to them.

 
Once they matched the cards and the terracotta continents, I "quizzed" them, asking them where certain continents were and they would point them out. And when we were done, we placed the 3-part cards next to our Around the World and Landmarks 3-part cards (to get that free printable, click here) in the Geography section.

 

Natural Beach Living put together an awesome lesson and has a FREE printable for you as well, so don't forget to head over her way to take a look.

Now it is YOUR turn! Come get these FREE Printables!

Click here to open the continent 3-Part Cards FREE Printable. You can also find them here.

Click here to see the lesson Natural Beach Living did and to get the Continent Map FREE Printable.

Click here to visit Trillium Montessori's Continent Studies post!