Teaching geography to elementary-aged kids doesn’t have to be about memorizing countries and capitals. Geography activated can be so much fun! These geography resources will not only engage your child but will integrate culture and so much more into your geography learning.
Daily Geography Games
Globle offers a daily mystery country. I am not sure who enjoys this challenge more – me or the kids! You start by inputting a country, and then another. The program lets you know which country is closer to the mystery country.
Worldle offers a similar mystery country daily challenge. However, the hints Worldle offers are based on distance and direction. So, we are not only learning countries but we’re learning cardinal direction and measurement of distance.
Seterra Maps is a popular program for teachers and can easily be integrated into a homeschool environment. This website provides every version of a geography quiz you could possibly imagine assigning a student.
Google Earth – Where is Carmen Sandiego? is a play on the old school game with which we Gen Xers grew up playing. It will entertain and engage your kids.
GeoGuessr is a fun online game that uses clues to lead the player to a specific place in the world.
TerraClues Google Earth Scavenger Hunt is a versatile tool for teachers and homeschooling parents. You can go on a pre-existing scavenger hunt or create your own based on what you’re currently learning with your students.
Place the States is a simple online game. Ben wants to print a map of the United States but needs to first put the states in order.
Apps to Teach Geography
Stack the States
This geography app is super fun for kids. There is a suspenseful element – you have to carefully stack the states to balance to eventually reach the checkered line to pass the level – that kids love. Plus the colors and adorable state characters engage the child.
This app helps kids learn state capitals, shapes, famous landmarks, geographic locations, flags, state nicknames, state abbreviations, and more. As you pass levels, you earn a state and as you earn more states, you unlock four additional bonus games called Map It, Pile Up, Puzzler, and Capital Drop.
Stack the Countries
Think Stack the States but with countries. The same approach to learning geography (see above). Unlike Stack the States, you are able to control your experience. In other words, you can choose to focus on just one specific continent or play the whole world. You can also select which types of questions are asked within the app.
Stack the Countries includes learning about capitals, landmarks, major cities, continents, border countries, languages, flags, and country shapes.
Board Games to Teach Geography
Continent Race
Ticket to Ride
Pandemic
The World Game
Trekking the World
Sweep the World
Scrambled States of America
How do you teach geography to elementary students?
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What is geography for elementary students?
We recently discovered the amazing world of Gameschooling! So, I went on the hunt for the best board games for kids and families. These games are educational and loads of fun. We love this board game! Did you know that it was the most backed board game in Kickstarter history? I was one of the backers falling in love with the sneaky way this game teaches preschoolers the fundamentals of programming, from coding to functions! The game is really easy to learn and offers loads of learning opportunities. Before you know it, your little one will be writing computer games rather than just playing them I bought this game when my son resisted learning sight words and short vowel words. Zingo is perfect for pre-readers and early readers and teaches recognition of essential words. Zingo offers a bingo-style game that was developed by educators to create a great play and stealth learning experience for Pre-K to 2nd graders and help with reading skills. My boys truly enjoy this game. Players adventure through paths of hazards and barriers. Players overcome obstacles by using unlikely tools in silly and imaginative ways. Players work together to make solutions to get them home together. A fun game that promotes cooperation, problem-solving, and imagination. We bought this game when our 6-year-old fought us on reading. The game is a blast and our son learned a ton from it. The game includes 220 of the most commonly used sight words. Kids want to learn and are encouraged to learn in a fun and engaging way. Specially designed to teach the top Dolch sight words, sight word SWAT challenges kids to see, SWAT, and learn! Learning can be loads of fun! In college, a friend of mine made me a Mancala board and I immediately fell in love with this game. Mancala is one of the world's oldest and best-loved games. You take turns scooping up the special stones and counting them out one at a time into the pockets on the board. When a player drops a stone into an empty pocket on their side of the board, they capture all the stones in the opposite pocket. It sounds like a simple marble game, but it's got plenty of strategies and reinforces Stem skills like counting and planning. The player who collects the most stones wins. Super easy to learn! Players need to stake your claim and protect your territory with the Blokus game! Super easy to learn and packs a punch full of strategy learning and challenges. Each player gets a set of 21 pieces – in red, blue, green, or yellow – then takes turns placing them on the board. There's just one rule: each piece you play must touch at least one other piece of the same color, but only at the corners! The goal is to fit the most pieces on the board. The game ends when no more pieces can be placed down, and the player with the lowest number remaining wins! More Geography Activities
Robot Turtles [Coding / Age 4+]
Zingo [Reading / Age 4+]
Obstacles [Strategy / Age 5+]
Sight Word Swat [Reading / Age 5+]
Mancala [Strategy / Age 6+]
Blokus [Strategy / Age 7+]
