Fun Way To Memorize The Counties of Utah

We had fun memorizing the 29 Counties of Utah by learning this song with actions. It was fun to see how fast we could do it. You may use this song for your own personal use, but the song is copyrighted so please do not make copies.

Repeated actions through song:
(start actions on "Elder" --one action per beat)
Both hands slap knees (Elder)
Cross  hands and slap knees again (Beaver)
Both hands slap knees (Cache)
Thumb point over shoulder (Carbon)
Right hand touches left shoulder and stays there (Dagget)
Left hand touches right shoulder so both arms are crossed (Davis)
Make fists and bring both elbows downward in front of body with fists upward (and)
Both fisted arms reach straight up (Duschene)
Continue repeating actions

Seven Continents Toss and Floor Map

We had so much fun learning about the continents and oceans with two activities. The first was a large vinyl world map that the girls could stand on. The second was tossing an inflatable globe around.

Seven Continents Toss

We tossed the inflatable globe ball back and forth as we sang the "Seven Continents Song." We took turns singing the names of the continents as we passed the ball along. Click on the link to listen to the song.

Seven Continents (The first part is to the tune of Father Abraham)

by Sherri Boekweg

Seven Continents upon the earth.

On the earth are seven continents.

They have lots of land and I know I can

Name the seven continents. They are:

Europe, Asia,

Africa, Australia,

North America

South America

And don't forget Antarctica.

Seven Continents Song

Another fun way to learn the continents was with a big vinyl floor world map. You could possibly make your own, or purchase one that is already available. The one in this picture was the Map Tangle game. Played a little like Twister, you pick two location cards, and then place a foot on each one. It is lots of fun when each place is on opposite ends of the map. Unfortunately, it has been recalled, so it is no longer available.

However, there is another similar product that is available. It is called the World Treasure Hunt Map, and it is a large vinyl map available from the Learning Resources company. http://www.learningresources.com/

Here is the picture from their website.

 

Jello Geography

 This is a very fun and tasty way to learn geography. This is what we did. First we made some blue Jello and let it set in a clear glass 9x13 baking dish. Then we printed off an outline map of the United States. When the Jello was set, we taped the map face up onto the bottom of the dish so we could see it through the Jello. Then we used that as a guide to draw the outline of the map on the Jello with a cake decorating writing gel in a tube. Then we carefully filled in the outline with vanilla pudding. Then we used blue decorating gel to draw the major rivers and another color to label the oceans. We used something like brown sprinkles  for the mountains.

The finished product. 

Do you recognize the landforms?

Geography Race -- State Abbreviations and Capitals

This is a very active way to learn and review state abbreviations and capitals. First I printed up cards with the state capital on one side and the 2-letter abbreviation on the other side. Then we scattered the cards around the frontroom floor so the abbreviations were facing up. Then the girls would stand by the door, listen for the name of the state, then race to find the card. They had a blast, and it was a lot more fun than simply filling out a worksheet.


 

To practice the capitals, we did the same thing, but turned the cards over so the name of the capital was face up. Then we played the game the same way racing for the capitals.