What are oceans and continents, and where is each of them located? Why don’t penguins and polar bears live together? How do you explain these concepts to a preschooler? For young children, dry geographical facts may be too abstract. But a few fun facts can be discovered together while watching educational shows.
You can also share exciting stories during travel. However, even that might not give a full picture of how vast the planet is, who lives where, or why Australia is so far from America. That’s why teaching continents to preschoolers becomes much easier with hands-on map puzzles and geography games created according to the Montessori method. These educational tools are perfect for explaining the concepts mentioned above, along with other geography-related scientific facts.
What Is the Montessori World Map?
The Montessori world map is a puzzle in which each continent and ocean is marked with a specific color, and this color scheme is standardized across all Montessori materials. For instance, North America is always orange. Unlike ordinary world map puzzles, a Montessori world map is typically made from plywood or solid wood. Each puzzle piece is designed to be easily grasped by small fingers – the material doesn’t tear or break easily, which is essential since little ones may shake or even throw the pieces.
This means that, on the one hand, the puzzle offers pleasant tactile sensations and is comfortable for a child to work with. On the other hand, it is a long-lasting toy that won’t need to be thrown away after just a week of use. The color-coded pieces also help children remember the information more effectively.
What Makes the Montessori World Map So Special?
The map puzzle is both open-ended and self-correcting. If a child places a continent or an ocean incorrectly, they can spot the mistake and fix it on their own. Additionally, Montessori geography puzzles have a few key features:
- A standardized color scheme used across all Montessori materials: Africa is green, Australia is brown, and so on.
- Each piece is easy to hold. The thick and smooth puzzle parts can be touched, explored, and remembered not only visually but also through the sense of touch.
- The puzzle base isn’t blank — it shows outlines of the pieces, helping the child understand where each piece belongs.
Before kids start working with the puzzle, adults (parents or educators) show them a globe and explain that Earth is a round planet with land and water. In Montessori classrooms, textured globes (e.g., with sandpaper surfaces) are often used — this adds a sensory layer to learning and helps the child retain information more effectively.
Then, each continent and ocean is introduced individually, where it is located, what makes it special, what animals live there, and what plants grow there. After that, the child is ready to work with the Montessori world map. They pick up each piece, hold it, remember the color, and feel its texture. This is accompanied by stories and engaging explanations that create an emotional connection rather than just dry facts. For example: "Remember the cartoon we watched about kangaroos? Kangaroos live in Australia. That’s the brown-colored continent."
Beyond the Basics: Expanding Geography with Montessori Materials
The Montessori world map is just the beginning. In geography lessons, children are also introduced to a variety of additional materials that help reinforce and expand their knowledge, allowing them to explore each topic more deeply. For example:
Materials that show the Earth in cross-section
These are colorful mini-books or models that help children visualize the layers of the Earth. During geography lessons, kids are often invited to create their own model of the planet using colored modeling clay — each layer in a different color to represent the inner core, outer core, mantle, and crust.
Who lives where?
The Montessori world map can be paired with animal figurines to show which creatures live on which continents. Instead of figures, you can also use animal picture cards and share fun facts about each one. This makes learning about habitats more visual and engaging.
The “Me and My Place on the Planet” activity
It’s essential for kids not only to learn how to assemble the Montessori world map but also to understand their place in the world. This activity helps them identify: Here I am, this is my home, I live in city X, which is in country Y, and my country is on the Z continent. Then they can point to “their” continent on the map! You can do this with simple materials at home, or for a more structured and visual experience, we recommend the book “Montessori Geography”.
This book includes many more Montessori geography materials that introduce little ones not only to continents and oceans but also to fascinating, in-depth topics. It offers a wide range of games and printable learning tools, including a paper version of the world map puzzle. The collection is available in digital format, ready for instant download and unlimited use. It’s suitable both for preschool activities and as a resource for school-age children to study specific geography topics.
Weather phenomena
Geography isn’t just about continents and countries – it also covers natural processes like the water cycle and atmospheric phenomena. These concepts can be easily explained to children using colorful cards, games, and hands-on materials.
For example, try a fun DIY project about the journey of a raindrop: from a river or ocean to a cloud, falling as rain, flowing into a stream or lake, and evaporating once again.
Why Does This Hands-On Approach Work for Kids?
Using Montessori materials in geography lessons has become increasingly popular, not only in Montessori schools and kindergartens, but also in traditional educational settings. These materials are often integrated into standard curricula due to their proven effectiveness in helping children grasp new concepts through hands-on learning, play, and engaging experiments.
Teachers highlight several advantages of this approach to learning geography:
- It allows complex concepts (such as condensation and evaporation) to be explained in simple terms using relatable and engaging examples.
- Kids work not with abstract data but with tangible examples they can observe in their everyday environment.
- Puzzle maps are materials children can explore not only with a teacher but also independently. They can immediately see if they’ve made a mistake and try again.
- Each of these materials fosters a child's involvement and interest in the learning process.
Most importantly, learning becomes an adventure, not a boring routine. As a result, the information is remembered more effectively. The Montessori world map is a wonderful way to make geography one of your child’s favorite subjects.
