Geography: Air, Land & Water

In conjunction with teaching the kids about the Creation and an understanding of geography, I'm teaching the basics of Land, Air & Water based on an activity in the Montessori book, The World in the Palm of Her Hand by Tim Seldin.

It's pretty simple, and these photos are self-explanatory.

Basically ...

• I made 3 labels: Air, Land, Water
• I cut out & pasted 2 control photos for each, with corresponding color backgrounds of white (air), brown (land) & blue (water).
• I cut out and pasted 3 each of other images corresponding to air, land & water.

We lay out the labels, then the 2 control photos, then the game is to match the images into their categories.

Today, I added to 3 jars:

• Air: Empty!
• Land: Scraps from the Yard, including sand, dirt, needles & leaves.
• Water: Water from the tap.

When it heats up, the kids and I will go out and they'll collect our own bits for the jars. Air is fun in that it's everywhere and we can't feel it, yet we can "fill the jar" anywhere.

I'm also using the control chart for the 7 Days of Creation, explaining:

• The Air is basically the expanse in the firmament that God made on Day 2.
• The Land appeared on Day 3 when God gathered the waters together.
• The Water was there right after God created the heavens and the earth, as the Bible says:

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." -- Genesis 1:1-2

In using the blow-up globe, I explain the air is all around it (and us), the land is colored (showing where we live), and the water is blue!

I very rarely "teach" the children in talking lecture form, so this type of activity is uncommon for us.

After today's instruction including the jars, they can play the game by themselves (or with my help), matching the jars, labels, and pictures.

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In conjunction with this activity, we're learning geography using:

• a local map (we already printed and labelled with our home & places we frequent -- we may also draw our own)
• a map of our house (which we did, but I want to redo it with them on a larger scale)
• pin-pricking the continents, after which each child will make his own book of continents
• etc, etc, etc

I'd also like to make a me on the map flip with the kids.