Laying the Foundation for Geographic Vocabulary

It’s about time… we’ve only talked about it since we first bought our camper and here we are 15 states later and we FINALLY add a map to our RV that we can use to keep track of all of our traveling and spark some interest in geography for Caleb. 

During the last Chicken Whisperer tour, which took us through 12 states in 5 weeks, Caleb began showing an interest in know where we are and where we were going. Luckily I had brought a book along with us that helped encourage that interest. Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney shows children where they stand on the map beginning in their own bedroom, moving to their house, street, city, state, country and planet. My only fault with it (for later use) is that it doesn’t mention continent. Even though maps and such geographic knowledge are way too abstract for my little man whose not yet 3, reading this book over and over has laid the foundation for later understandings and vocabulary. As I mentioned earlier, we finally purchased a United States map sticker and added it to the RV. After we placed it on the RV, we talked about the outline being our country, the United States of America. We named each state as we added them and talked about things we remember doing in those states. 

In Florida, we enjoyed the hot sun over the winter, seeing oranges on trees, making orange juice and Caleb's first out-of-the-home-teacher at the Children's Museum during Tot Time each week over a 5 month period. 

In Indiana, we went to the largest Children’s Museum in the country where we played with blocks, at the water table and used the digger machine to move dirt around. 

 
We also got to ride in the Chicken Limo and meet new friends! 

In Tennessee, we visited the aquarium where we saw penguins, fish, sharks and butterflies. 

We rode the incline railway up Lookout mountain and saw story book characters at Rock City! 

We talked about Georgia, where are home, farm and family are located.

We talked about all the fun adventures we’ve had in each state, remembering fond times together, building vocabulary, and laying the foundation for deeper geographic understandings to come in the future.

Blessing on your learning journey!