Teach Geography Painlessly

I have found a wonderful idea (not original to me) to teach my children geography painlessly and naturally: put a map on your kitchen table!  World or US maps can be purchased inexpensively at Wal-Mart or other stores, and while you are there, purchase a couple of yards of plastic from the fabric department. When you get home, put the map on your table and cover it with plastic.

Now that it is in place, it will provide your family with a discussion piece over dinner for years to come!  You would be amazed at how often various places come up in conversation for one reason or another, and this gives you the opportunity to point them out whenever they come up.

If you like, you can take it one step further, as we have done, and post pictures of missionaries in their appropriate locations as well. That way, they are ever before your eyes and you can remember to pray for them.

If you would like to mark different places on the map temporarily, you can use a vis-à-vis marker, which will easily wipe off when you are done. At the time I took this picture, our pastor and his father were in Zambia, so we had marked that country for the time they were away. When they come home safely, we can use a napkin to quickly wipe away the marking.

We have had this map on our table for about four years now, and it has been such an effective tool for my children to learn geography!  The other day my 2 year old crawled up on the table, pointed to the appropriate location and said, "Papau New Guinea, Mama! Papau New Guinea!" I was shocked, as I had never tried to teach him that, but even the little ones are absorbing as you simply talk around the table!