Geography is a way of thinking, of asking questions, of observing
and appreciating the world around us. You can help your children learn by providing
interesting activities for them, and by prompting them to ask questions about
their surroundings.
Set a good example, and help your children build precise mental images, by always using correct terms. Say, "We are going north to New York to visit Grandma," or "west to Dallas to see Uncle John," rather than "up to New York" or "down to Dallas". Use words such as highway, desert, river, climate, and glacier; and explain concepts like city, state, and continent.
Many of the words used in geography are everyday words. But, like any other field of learning, geography has a language of its own.
Expose children to lots of maps and let them see you using them. Get a good atlas as well as a dictionary. Atlases help us ask, and answer, questions about places and their relationships with other areas. Many states have atlases that are generally available through an agency of the state government.
The activities suggested here are only a few examples of the many ways that children learn geography. These activities are designed to help parents find ways to include geographic thinking in their children's early experiences. We hope they will stimulate your thinking and that you will develop many more activities on your own.
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References