This is an easy project that kids can make to help them learn how they and their community fit into the wider world. Gather your art supplies and let’s get started.
You will need construction paper of different colors, crayons or markers, 
scissors, and glue. We traced different mixing bowls to create the different sized circles. As the circles get bigger, their pictures show bigger geographic areas. The circles are labeled with the following titles (English and then Spanish):
My house – Mi casa
My city – Mi ciudad
My state – Mi estado
My country – Mi país
My continent – Mi continente
My planet – Mi planeta
Another option is to have the children write the specific details. For “my house,” have them write their address, their city for “my city,” etc until they reach “Earth” for their planet. Because I was doing this project with 4, 6, and 7 year olds, I printed pictures of our state, country, and continent from the internet (Tip: when you want only an outline of a country, type in “France map coloring page“). They drew their house, a scene from our city, and we used a paper plate for the final circle. I showed the kids pictures of the world to come up with “my planet.” Finally, we punched holes in the top and used binder rings (from an office supply store) to assemble the project. My kids presented their projects by reading the titles, and explaining the details to us.
I am LOVING your website! So much to learn and do and I can’t wait to do this project (along with others) with my kids!
Thanks Nancy! It is so fun to do these projects with our kids! I love how their little minds soak it up:).
I LOVE this idea!! What a great way to show them all the different places we call home and how they relate to each other. Pure genius!
Thanks Ruthanne! My kids did a similar project at school regarding their “leaders”- Ms. P is my teacher, in charge of my class. Mr. D is the principal, in charge of the whole school. Mr. X is our mayor, in charge of our town, then the governor, and the president. I adapted it to this activity with places because I think they still get confused between city, state, country, etc.
Excellent activity! Exploring our place in the world like this is also very beneficial to students with special needs, particularly ones struggling with organization of time and space.
Thanks Bernadette! I love your web site http://www.bernadettesimpson.com/escapade.html and need to find your book. What a great resource for parents and teachers!
This isn’t an original idea…homeschooling families have been posting this on the web for years, showing their projects from the curriculum “Me on the Map”. It IS genius, but it can’t be attributed to this site or the people running it. It’s funny how they take the credit so readily though, huh?
This IS a genius idea- I wish I had heard of it sooner! I had no idea it had another name and was so popular among homeschoolers- with very good reason! I am very careful of attributing credit where credit is due (Unlike other web sites, if you look through my site all of the photographs are mine unless noted, and every single recipe/craft that I have even vaguely adapted from someone’s I personally write to them and ask for permission to post and give them the proper credit) I had no idea it had another name, or I would have posted it. I would be so happy to contact the original author for permission and then give them the credit they deserve:)- please, please leave me their name/address if you know it. By the way, it’s just me here:). Not a group of people, and absolutely no income from this site. But if there are any other effective and successful ideas, I would love to learn about them so I can use them with my kids. We love to learn about the world and other cultures!
That’s pretty rude. The Internet is full of ideas gleaned from each other. Most people don’t care as its for children and not for adults to get all uppity about it. It’s a cute activity, thank you for posting.
I love this project entirely, but thinking that I will have a few less circles on ours as we live on Norfolk Island, a tiny little island in the middle of the south pacific, no city or state, I guess the nearest continent would be Australia. It might be fun to do it using the traditional Norf’k language too. Next time I work at the local preschool(casual), I will do this and post a photo for you to see our version.
Oooh, please send me a picture and I will post! Also- we would love to showcase Norfolk Island- do you have any activities/recipes/crafts/songs/history you’d like to share;)?
Saw this on Pinterest and clicked on over. We made this craft tonight and it was lots of fun. On the country map my children made hearts on the states that our friends and family live in, it was a great visual. Thanks so much for posting!
That is such a cute idea- I think we might have to do something like that. We have family all over, and it would be such a great visual for the kids to have a better idea where they are. Thanks so much for sharing:).
What a great idea! I will collect what I can as we have an amazing little island filled with interesting history We have had 2 penal settlements (England sent their convicts here in the late 1700′s) then when the convict settlements were abandoned, Queen Victoria gave the island to the desendants of the Mutiny of the Bounty fame. The local dialect is a mixture of old English and Tahitian, it has become a language on its own. A subtropical island full of volcanic rich red soils and interesting plants as well as tropical reefs. I will speak to the local language teacher at school as she has some great craft ideas & songs, the recipes are great too.
oooh, I am so excited! Let’s do a great post about everything!:)
This is awesome! We were just talking, in my teaching team, about kids and their concepts of states vs. countries! This will be a perfect activity to do now, for this year’s kids, and at the beginning of next year!
Yay! Perfect!:)
Here is the link to the Norfolk Island language site, it has online puzzle activities and games using the Norf’k laenwij (language) you can even record yourself speaking norf’k. http://www.norfolklanguage.nlk.nf/
I hope to find a site with all the unique island recipes on, although they are all in some cookbooks available on the website too.
Thank you so much! I have some questions for you- I will email you!:)
please do! Hapy to answer any questions. The quickest email is norfolkislandphotos@gmail.com if you dont already have it. cheers, Cristina
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Hi Becky,
I produce videos for a website called Mom’s Homeroom. It is a collaboration between Microsoft and Kellogg’s and our focus is empowering moms with creative ideas and a community that can help them guide their children to academic success.
I came across your site while researching an episode on making boring homework fun. Your ideas are so creative and easy for moms to replicate so I’m interested in finding out a little more about your work and inspiration maybe for an episode on raising globally minded kids?
Contact me if you’d like to talk about it.
Best wishes,
Beth Ruchlin
Absolutely! I will email you right now:).