The world is a vast and diverse place filled with plants, animals, and other natural components that function together to create our shared society. Geography is about more than just maps—it’s also the study of how humans interact with each other and the world around them. With this in mind, it’s important for your young leaders to begin to understand how we all coexist together, what we do well, and what we can improve on. Fortunately, this doesn’t have to be boring! Read on for 29 fun geography lessons and educational resources that will inspire you and your kids to see the world in a whole new and inviting way.
1. My Place in the World
This fun geography craft will help your students understand, in a very visual and personal way, how they fit into the world around them. This model works best if each student creates their own design using the names of their country, state, city/town, and street. It’s a colorful way to introduce your kids to the study of geography.
Learn More: Pinterest
2. Geography Sing-Alongs
Music is an important part of cultural identity—and it’s a great way to learn about different regions. There are plenty of regional and cultural songs you can teach your kids, from classic folk songs to modern tunes. Start each geography lesson with a song from a different country so THAT your students can hear music from all over the world.
Learn More: YouTube
3. Google Earth I Spy
For this geography activity, start by downloading a printable worksheet with a list of famous landmarks—or feel free to create your own that’s specifically geared toward your students’ interests. Then, open the Google Earth app and explore the detailed images of the world in 2D and 3D. Help your students look for the landmarks from the list.
Learn More: Google Earth
4. Cooking Around the World
Food from different cultures is all so unique and special, with flavor combinations, ingredients, and customs that are a big part of traditions and heritage. This food origin lesson idea promotes inquiry-based learning and will encourage your kids to be more adventurous with their diets. It includes various recipes as well as food facts and trivia. So, pick a few recipes and have a food-centric geography day! Your learners can also explore food with our list of flavorful food books for kids.
Learn More: Kids Cooking Activities
5. United States Map Puzzle
Learning about the 50 states and their capital cities is great for any social studies class. Map puzzles are a fun learning resource that will encourage teamwork, utilize motor skills, teach geographical locations, and can be used in the classroom or at home. You can also check out our adventure-inspiring map activities for young learners!
Learn More: We Have Kids
6. Virtual Field Trip
There are many free geography resources that can bring foreign lands to life right in your classroom. You and your kids can enjoy 3D tours of natural and city landscapes, daily life tours of various plants and animals, and even virtual trips to outer space—and all without any permission forms! Check out this free resource collection and try one out with your students today.
Learn More: The Educators’ Spin On It
7. Land, Air, and Water
This hands-on activity is a great addition to any geography lesson plan if you have younger students. Start by getting three glass jars. Then, fill one with dirt, one with water, and leave one empty—now it’s filled with air. Place small boxes or containers in front of each jar and provide your kids with a pile of nature magazines. Then, test their geographic knowledge by asking them to cut out and place images of land, air, and water in their respective boxes.
Learn More: Atlas Mission
8. Geography Bee
Did you know that there are international geography bee competitions all over the world where young minds compete to see who has the most geographical knowledge? You can host your own geography bee in your classroom with a simple list of questions. Be sure to use questions regarding information you’ve covered already in class— undoubtedly resulting in an exciting way to test your students’ memory and comprehension!
Learn More: YouTube
9. DIY Compass Reading
There are many ways that your students can create their own compasses to practice intermediate direction skills. In this activity, your students will craft simple working compasses using magnets, sewing needles, paper, and water. By making their own, they’ll be sure to have a better understanding of how the devices work and how to use them.
Learn More: Go Science Girls
10. Continent Fortune Teller
This DIY fortune-teller will make your geography classes that much more fun and interactive. Instruct your students to make simple paper fortune-tellers—but instead of noting fortunes, they’ll mark the inside with geographic locations. Then, divide everyone into pairs and give each set of students a map. Have them challenge each other to find the locations that the fortune tellers “request”. This is a great activity that can be customized to whatever region or terminology you’re currently teaching!
Learn More: Teach Beside Me
11. Sunrise to Sunset
Help your class zoom out and see how our world fits into the solar system. Use a flashlight and globe to demonstrate to your kids how the Earth revolves around the sun and rotates on an axis. Shine the flashlight from different angles and ask your students which areas are awake/sleeping, hot/cold, or experiencing particular seasons. Your visual learners will find this very helpful in grasping these large-scale concepts!
Learn More: Atlas Mission
12. Online Geography Games
There are many ways in which your kids can study geography with apps and online resources- and many are free! Incorporate these games into class time or get your kids to rely on them during their homework sessions to study/review country names, country flags, capitals, and natural landscapes/features. Here’s a great collection of games that’re sorted based on geographic region.
Learn More: World Geography Games
13. Geography of Time Zones
You may find that the concept of time zones is difficult for your young learners to grasp. A fun way of bringing it to life for your kids is by making world clock crafts for the classroom. You can use household items like plastic lids or paper plates to make your clocks and get creative with decoration and which countries you choose to represent!
Learn More: Playtivities
14. Geography Bingo
I haven’t taught a class of students yet who don’t love bingo. It is so versatile—you can help your kids review many different subjects using its format. Craft bingo cards with different country names, world/state capitals, natural topography, or any other geography terms that you wish to revise.
Learn More: Education Possible
15. DIY Balloon Globes
There are lots of different templates for making a balloon globe, but one commonality that they share is that they’re all about creativity and exploration. Print out an outline of the continents and have your kids color in all the different countries. Then, guide them in cutting out the pieces and gluing them onto a balloon—making sure that it’s a blue one to represent the oceans!
Learn More: My Kid Craft
16. Geography Journey on a Flat Map
Let’s embark on an imaginative geography adventure! Provide your students with maps and art supplies before encouraging them to bring the landscapes to life. They can paint deserts, oceans, and mountains; filling their flat maps with color and creativity. If you have older students, encourage them to incorporate cultural or geographic differences into their designs.
Learn More: Pinterest
17. Geography Memory Game
Introduce an exciting new memory game into your classroom! This online game requires that your kids match an image of a continent or map to its written name—while also remembering the cards’ locations! This engaging game will strengthen their recall abilities and reinforce their geography knowledge in a fun, interactive way.
Learn More: Match the Memory
18. City Comparison: Then and Now
Who doesn’t love a good glow-up? Have your students compare old photos of cities with modern images. Depending on their ages, you can provide the pictures or ask them to research the photos themselves. They’ll be fascinated to see how cityscapes have evolved over decades, as new buildings rise, technologies advance, and history marches on—juxtaposing the past and present to better visualize the progress.
Learn More: Bored Panda
19. Global Weather Watch
Let’s track the weather like meteorologists! Give each of your students a world map. Then, over the course of several days or weeks, have them record temperatures, precipitation, and weather events in cities across the globe. They’ll be amazed to see how climates vary around the planet as they monitor and compare worldwide weather patterns
Learn More: iSL Collective
20. Geography Fair
Get ready for a creative geography showcase! Have your students each represent a different country in a vibrant fair. They can research languages, cuisine, music, and customs—then, they’ll present what they’ve learned in informative and dynamic ways. As presenters and spectators, a geography fair will enable your learners to synthesize and share knowledge.
Learn More: Home Educators Association of Roxboro
21. Atlas-Based Scavenger Hunt
Let’s embark on an atlas adventure! Put together a list of specific geographical features, or clues to certain countries or regions before challenging your kiddos to use them to inform their hunt! Prompt them to find the items that you’ve described on appropriate maps.
Learn More: Tes
22. Geographical Formation Model
Unleash your students’ artistry to sculpt stunning landform models! Provide cardboard, clay, dough, or papier-mâché. Then, encourage your learners to shape distinctive features like mountain ridges, valleys, and volcano craters. Crafting tactile representations will quickly bring geography concepts to life in their hands whilst cementing them in their minds.
Learn More: YouTube
23. Travel Journal Crafting
Let your students’ imaginations wander by having them craft whimsical travel journals! Provide blank books for them to document fictional voyages—they can describe exotic scenery, cuisine, and culture. Creating personalized journals will invest your budding writers in the creative process as they research different lands and strengthen their imaginations.
Learn More: Moms and Crafters
24. Geo-guessing Game
Let’s play an exciting geography guessing game! Introduce your kids to this online game, which will “drop” them into an interactive map somewhere in the world. Based on the visual clues and your kids’ prior knowledge, they’ll have to figure out where they’ve landed. They can even compete against their classmates or other players from around the world to up the ante!
Learn More: GeoGuessr
25. Country Culture Collage
Gather pictures, words, and textures to have your students create immersive country collages! Provide diverse art supplies and watch them synthesize artworks that showcase national languages, dress, music, and customs. This is a creative way to get your kids researching—and celebrating—all the different aspects that make up cultural identity.
Learn More: Instructables
26. Cultural Dance Exploration
Help your students explore geography by having them move to global beats! Start by having them watch or read descriptions of different traditional dance styles from around the world and the meanings behind them. Then, start the music and encourage them to mimic the moves they’ve learned. As they do so, they’ll gain embodied insights about daily life and interpret the infectious rhythms in their own way.
Learn More: YouTube
27. Climatic Zones Lesson
Make climate zones come alive by having your students create vivid posters! Instruct them to start by researching various regions and their respective weather patterns, signature plants, and animals. Then, provide art supplies for them to depict what they’ve learned. Encourage them to create engaging visual aids that reinforce their own knowledge before sharing them with their classmates.
Learn More: St. Margaret’s Lee
28. Geography Quizzes
They may not sound exciting, but pop quizzes are an easy and effective way to ensure that your students have absorbed the material! Reinforce your kids’ geography knowledge with simple review quizzes; a video format will make them feel a bit fresher as your students ensure they’ve committed countries, cultures, landmarks, and more to memory.
Learn More: YouTube
29. Mapping Ancestors
Try this personally meaningful geography project! Have each of your students map their ancestry by identifying their origins on a world map. You can do this electronically with online mapping tools, or go old school with a paper map displayed in your classroom. Your kids will gain and share meaningful insights as they mark far-flung lineages across continents.
Learn More: Family Search
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