As I was cleaning out the learning shelves, I came across a Geography unit I had done with my 3 year old earlier last year. So today I thought I’d share this information with you. In this lesson, the geography concepts of land, water and air are introduced in a Montessori format.
MONTESSORI GEOGRAPHY LESSON ON LAND, AIR AND WATER
OBJECTIVE
The objective of the lesson is to classify and explore the elements of the Earth.
MATERIALS
- Prepare 3 mini glass bottles (with lids) and fill one with sand, and one with water (use blue food coloring and dye the water if you’d like) and the third with nothing (air). I used objects from the Safari Toobs and other miniature toy items. The helpful Garden has free picture cards that you could print out as well. http://thehelpfulgarden.blogspot.com.au/2012/07/land-water-air-presentation-cards.html
- Globe
LESSON
You’d begin the lesson by talking about the planet earth. “We live on Planet Earth. (Show a globe) Earth is made up of land (point to the bottle with the sand), water (point to the bottle with water) and air (point to the last bottle). We walk on land, fish swim in the water and we breathe air. Air is invisible (blow onto the child’s hand). Then encourage the child to place the objects or picture cards under the correct labels. For example, I’d take the boat and ask, “where would you see a boat, on land, air or water?” “Where can we find an airplane, on land, air or water?” After a few prompts, the child is likely to finish the task on his or her own.
Another variation of this lesson can be conducted outside in nature when you go for a walk. Point out animals and or objects that one may find outside in a stream, on land and in the air.
EXTENSION
An extension for this lesson, would be to use a map. So it’s more visual for the child to see the elements of our planet. This is an excellent lesson for kids (2-4 ages) to increase their vocabulary, identify components of the Earth and to simply enjoy.
