Simple play for teaching position words

Starting Geography with my son was easy; he was 3, and he was already fundamentally aware of his environment and the world around him. See where we started for him here.

 

My daughter, on the other hand, is at a young age for developing an interest in Geography (most likely due to her brother's love for it). Here is were we're starting with her - it's so simple and so much fun for her:

 

A box and an object is all you'll need.

We used a Paper Mache box and a little dog.

And we began basic terms for an object's position in the environment (top, bottom, low, high, in front, behind, inside, left, right, etc.)

Using the Montessori 3-part lesson:

 

Place the object on top of the box.

1. State, "The Dog is on top of the box."
2. Take the dog down and ask her to put the dog on top of the box.
3. Ask, "Where is the dog?" 

We did the same thing for behind, in front, inside and on the side.

She loved it!

 

She is developing language and understanding of her personal space and the relationship of things around her. This is prepping her for further understanding world geography. (Baby steps, here.)

 

If you're curious ... our next step is a Land, Water and Air activity to help her understand that Earth is comprised of three major constituents: Land, Water and Air. Post to come.

 

We did a little work with land, water and air in my last post: Learning with Safari Ltd Toobs.