Mrs T's Musings

Geography skills are valuable for students to learn, but often, Geography requires a lot of preparation and planning for teachers. What if you could get kids engaged in practising their Geography skills while skipping that extra planning time? These low-prep geography activities for kids will help you easily incorporate more Geography in your learning space without the extra time and effort.

Map-Based Activities

Getting kids familiar with maps is a great starting place, as it will help them gain confidence in other areas of Geography. Here are some simple but engaging map-based activities you can try with your students.

Labelling Maps

A simple but effective way to get kids familiar with maps is to have them add in the labels for countries, states or cities. You can use a completely blank map if you’re working with students who need extension, or you can provide them with a map marked with locations that need to be labelled. Students can add in the labels, either using another reference map or their own research skills, and then can colour it in. As an extension task, try a ‘race’ to see how quickly students can label the map from memory.

To grab some pre-made maps that are ready to print and use for this activity, take a look at the Geography Packs available in my TpT store.

Find That Place

After students have labelled their own maps, you can also try playing a game called ‘Find that Place’. Give students atlases or have them use the maps they’ve just labelled, then quiz them to see how quickly they can find the place that you name. You can even give them clues or coordinates to help them find specific countries or landmarks.

Culture and Country Exploration

Once you’ve spent some time exploring maps, it’s helpful to move onto looking at the culture and countries in more depth. These activities are a great starting point when it comes to helping students get to know about how people live in different countries around the world.

Country / State of the Week

Highlight a country or state each week that you’d like your students to learn about. They can spend some time doing research and sharing what they discover. You could even present one interesting fact about this place each day to add to the fun! 

For some ready-made templates that cover the US states, Canadian provinces and territories, South American countries and Australian states and territories, head to this link: Countries Around the World Geography Bundle.

Flag Matching Game

To help students learn about country or state flags, try this fun flag matching game! Simply print out pictures of flags and write out the names of different countries or states. Have students match the flags to the correct places. Add an extra challenge by setting a timer or turning it into a game of memory.

Weather Around the World

It can be fascinating to learn about the weather in other countries, especially when you explore what they’re experiencing in real time. So, give your students the opportunity to explore the weather in other countries by doing some research on this topic. They can pick 2 or 3 countries or states to research and compare the weather of each of them. They can even compare their research to the weather they’re currently experiencing where they live. This can generate some interesting discussion points about the lifestyle and culture that different places have, based on their climate and weather. 

I hope that these ideas help inspire you to try something new in your Geography lessons! 

If you’d like to save time, instead of scouring the web trying to find copies of maps and templates, I have one resource pack that includes a range of activities focusing on the USA, Canada, Australia and South America. View the Countries of the World Map Activities Value Bundle here. This resource pack includes labelled maps, blank maps and a range of different research templates to help students dive into the geography and culture of countries around the world.

Grab your copy of the Countries of the World Map Activities Bundle here.

Are you teaching Australian geography? Then have a read through my post on Australian Geography Activities for Kids.

P.S. I love to hear how my tips and resources are helping you in your teaching, so leave a comment to let me know!

Have a question or a request? You can contact me at blueskydesignsbymrst@gmail.com.