Geography at Home

Top Tips to Help your Child Become a Brilliant Geographer:

• Explore your local area with your children so that they are familiar with it. 
   
• When planning a trip somewhere, point out the place on a world map so they can see where they are going in relation to where they live. 
   
• Let older children investigate route maps and help them to plan the route places that you visit. If you use public transport talk about types of transport – where they might be going. 
   
• Use small world toys- farm sets, train sets, dolls houses etc – talk about the layouts and rooms etc. What belongs where?  Where the tractors go? etc.
   
• Go to the library and choose books about different people around the world, different cultures and places.
   
• Use playdough or Lego to make famous UK landmarks or famous landmarks from around the world.
   
• Make a scrap book of postcards you have collected from different places you have visited. 
   
• Take pictures of the view from your back window once each month and at the end of the year.  Can you order them? How has the view changed through the months/seasons? 
   
• When on holidays, help your child to make holiday diaries - artefacts, drawings, postcards, tickets, etc. 
   
• Talk about places in films that you watch together – Finding Nemo, Jungle Book, Lion King, Happy Feet, Frozen, Ice Age, etc. 
   
• Have a look at the labels on your food/clothes and see what countries they have come from.  Can you point these countries out on a map, atlas or globe? 
   
• When you visit your friends or family, go for a short walk and discuss how the area is similar and different to the area that your home is in. 
   
• Go for a walk in a local wood or forest – at different times of the year – spring time or autumn (leaf kicking time).  The seasons is a very important pattern to observe. 
   
• Watch the weather forecast on TV and then check if they got it right.  Keep a weather diary so that you can compare how the weather changes during the different seasons. 
   
• Let your child grow their own flowers, fruit or veg in your garden.  
   
• Go mini-beast and habitat hunting.  Create your own garden eco tour. 
   
• Star watch at night from a homemade den.
   
• Talk about environmental topic issues highlighted by news programmes, such as News Round. 

Useful websites at home: