Continent Boxes

This year I am using Galloping The Globe for both the kids.  I have been trying to include books and ideas that will keep Aiden interested as we study each continent.  While I was searching for ideas I found a blog post on Montessori For Everyone about continent boxes and fell in love with the idea. 

Continent boxes are a great way to keep items from each country together in one place.  You can include books, music, pictures, small plastic animals, fabric, money, stamps, flags ~ basically anything you can find from the continent.

I used black photo boxes and made labels for each continent ~ using traditional Montessori continent colors. 

• North America  ~ orange
• Europe ~ red
• Africa ~ green
• South America ~ pink
• Antarctica ~ white
• Australia ~ brown
• Asia ~  yellow

I have our boxes where the kids can get to them any time they want.   As we study each continent we will display the items in the box and talk about them in more detail.

Where I Found Items to Fill Our Boxes:

• I started out by looking around the house (and my mom’s).  I was really surprised at the number of items we already had from other countries.
• Thrift stores are a great place to find dolls, souvenirs, and books.
• I found some cute souvenirs online at Happy Mall.
• eBay – is a great place to find some very inexpensive items (stamps, money, flags, etc.).  I only buy from sellers with 95% or higher positive feedback.
• Each of our continent boxes contains a book about the continent.  I found continent books on Amazon for $7.99 each.  They ended up being cheaper because they are eligible for the 4 for 3 promotion, which brought the cost down.
• I would like to include Continent Kits from Montessori for Everyone but right know I only have one for Asia.  The kits include:
  • Maps
  • Animals – 3 part cards
  • Plants – 3 part cards
  • Flags
  • Places – 3 part cards
  • Pictures - 12 pictures of people and daily life
  • Fact Sheet
  • Arrows (one for each country)
  • Instructions for making & using this material
• Toob animals from each continent – I got my from Amazon and Michaels.  I was able to use a 40% off coupon at Michaels.

Our Continent Boxes:

Some of our boxes have more items then others.  We will continue to add items and crafts as we study the continents.

     

     

  

Our continent boxes have been a great way to get Aiden excited about our geography studies.  

To check out more Preschool ideas and activities visit Preschool Corner!

~Cindy