Mental Globetrotting: Teach Geography to Your Toddler the Fun Way

Children can begin to recognize countries on a globe at a surprisingly young age. Exceptionally bright children can begin to pick out countries before the end of their second year. If you want to teach your child some basic geography, you will need to keep things interesting by turning the lesson into a game.

First, you will need a globe ball. This globe ball can either be the thick plastic type or the inflatable beach ball type. It does not matter. Just make sure that the globe ball you choose can handle rough play, has bright contrasting colors, and is big enough so that your child can easily see the countries. Globe balls 10”-16” in diameter should work well.

Next, interest your child in the globe ball by letting him or her play with it as any other toy. Once your child is comfortable with the globe ball, start casually pointing out a few countries to your child.

The countries you choose are very important to this process. You can maximize your child’s understanding by selecting countries that are very easy to recognize, so start with islands and large landmasses. Islands are easy to identify because they are isolated. Large landmasses are easy to identify because they appear as large blocks of color that stand out among the other countries.

Australia, being large and isolated, is usually the easiest for a child to recognize. Other countries that the child will be able to recognize easily are America, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, China, Russia, Japan, New Zealand, India, and Madagascar. It is best to start with three countries of very different shapes and locations such as Australia, America, and Madagascar.

You can begin a lesson by simply holding the globe ball in front of the child and positioning each country in your child’s direct line of sight. Point out and name Australia. Rotate the globe. Point out and name America, and so on. Repeat this five times. After this quick lesson, let your child play with the ball to let the lesson sink in. Repeat this lesson a couple of times per day at your leisure.

After several lessons, your child should begin to recognize some or all of the three countries. Test your child’s recognition by positioning Australia in his or her direct line of sight. Ask, “Where is Australia?” If your child points to Australia, cheer happily and exclaim, “That’s right. You found Australia!” Then rotate the globe to do the same thing with America and Madagascar.

Once your child can consistently identify all three countries, gradually start adding new countries to your routine.

If, when you ask your child to point to a country, he or she does not respond or points to the wrong country, do not show disappointment. Just gently point to the correct country and remind your child of the country’s name. If your child does not recognize any of the countries, you will need to repeat the previous lesson several more times. If you perceive that your child is not catching on or is not enjoying the geography game, it is best to discontinue the lessons and reattempt at a later date when you think your child might be more interested.

Now, that we have covered how to teach geography to your child, the obvious question is, “What is the advantage to a child being able to find Madagascar on a globe?” The answer is, “Almost none.” Your child will not need to know the location of Madagascar for years.

The real point of this geography game is not to teach geography. Much more importantly, this game subtly teaches some very important developmental skills. Your child will learn the valuable skill of visual differentiation. When your child memorizes countries on a globe, he or she will study the dozens of lines and curves that form the shape of each country. The ability to process and remember complex 2-D shapes is a valuable skill that can be used to identify the millions of objects that make up the real world.

This geography game also teaches your child to think in 3-D. Your child will eventually be able to understand that when he or she is looking at America, Australia is on the opposite side of the sphere. Learning to process 3-D orientation is very difficult for a small child, but it is a major developmental breakthrough that will help the child to more fully understand the complexity and depth of the surrounding world.