Geography for Preschoolers: Children of the World Matching Cards & Activities

Hands on activities to help your preschooler learn world geography

A few months ago, my preschooler became very interested in the globe my husband kept on a high shelf (a relic from his childhood days. Quite a few of the country names have changed!) We moved it down to his toy shelf where he can reach it whenever he wants. Before I took my trip to France last month, it was a very handy visual for talking about where Mommy would be going and where he would be while I was gone.

Now that my little guy has grown beyond the board book phase, we're also reading more books that are set in other countries or who have immigrant characters. To help him understand what it means when I say something like "this child lives in Korea," we've been doing more geography activities. In this post I'll share some of what we're doing right now (plus a few additional ideas I'm getting ready to try.)

Barefoot Books Children of the world memory and matching game

    My favorite non-book item that Barefoot Books offers is the Children of the World memory game. There are 36 pairs of children in the game, with each pair representing a different country. Each pair has one card with the girl's name and picture and her country's name. The matching card has a boy dressed in similar clothing, his name, how to say hello in the language, and the name of the language written in parentheses.

       At age 3, my son is too young to use it as a memory game, but we're still using it for matching purposes. I pick out 4 pairs and lay them face up, and ask him to match them by color. Then I read him the name of the country where the children are from. We find the country on the globe, and then we practice saying hello in their language.

Find facts about the country in a children's atlas

     For children who are a little older, I recommend looking up the country in an atlas. The Barefoot Books World Atlas, picture above, has many features that make it appropriate for young children. Children especially love the "Did you know?" lift the flaps. Using an atlas gives you an opportunity to talk about a few more interesting facts about the country that the children are from and its culture. Since atlases often include climate maps, this also gives you a chance to talk about weather, farming, and more.

Explore flags of the world

    As you can imagine, a three year old's attention span is pretty short. By the time we've done these activities with four pairs of children, he is usually losing interest. At a different time, he has enjoyed looking at the country's flags (especially ones with interesting pictures, like Sri Lanka's lion above!) I found a few pairs of children from the memory game and printed out their flags from the website Activity Village. The site has many different options for printable flags. We used the ones that are meant for making a jigsaw puzzle, because there is a small version and a large version of the flag that my son could match together. Again, we found the country on the globe and said what continent it was located in.

An illustration from the singalong If You're Happy and Your Know It

Learn to say "hello" in other languages with If You're Happy & You Know It

    Another great resource for sampling languages of the world is the Barefoot Books singalong If You're Happy and You Know It. The last verse of this familiar song has a global twist, with a call and response singing of "Hello" in dozens of different languages. The children shown in the book are the same ones found in the Children of the World Memory Game. When my son was barely two years old, this was one of our favorite songs. Imagine my surprise when he just started singing "Jambo" from the back of the car one day! You can also view a video of the song on YouTube. However, for preschoolers I highly recommend having a copy of the book so that the child can explore at her own pace (as well as limit her screen time.) 

Put your preschooler's reading journey on the map

    Another idea I'm always suggesting (but shamefully haven't tried at home yet!) is to pin up a world map on the wall of your child's bedroom. Each time you read a book that is set in another country, help your child place a sticker or pin on the map to mark that you've "visited" the country by reading the book. This activity can also have the helpful side effect of visualizing where you need to further diversify your bookshelf. Lately, for example I've been looking for more books set in Asian countries.

How are you helping preschoolers explore geography?

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links at no cost to you.