Geography materials are some of our favorite Montessori resources! The sequential introduction to basic geography begins with land and water forms and is followed by color-coded continents. Through organization, Montessori geography materials give children a solid foundation of knowledge about the world around us!
This post features a collection of printable and hands-on Montessori geography materials, including maps and globes for children!
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Free Montessori geography printables for children
Montessori land and water world maps
Our bilingual Montessori Land & Water World Map (brown continents, blue ocean) are available in the following languages (click on the title to download):
You can also download black-and-white versions of the maps to use as coloring sheets:
- World map – coloring sheet – SC/English
- World map – coloring sheet – TC/English
- World map – coloring sheet – Korean/English
Good news: Our geography printables are editable! Feel free to adjust the language according to your family’s learning needs! 🙂
Tactile learning with Montessori maps
In a traditional Montessori classroom, the first globe that the child encounters focuses on land and water. Each continent is made of sandpaper so that a child can feel the texture, associate it with land, and contrast it to the smooth blue water.
Since we don’t have the sandpaper land and water globe, we applied the sensory principle and used ingredients from our kitchen pantry.
In the morning, we often eat oatmeal for breakfast, and thus had plenty available to use for this activity. With rough texture and tan color, dry oats were perfect for representing “land”! So that they could be reused, we did not glue them to the map printable.
Actually, we re-used the oats and ground them into fine powder for the children’s bath; they were clean and we try not to waste food!
For tactile learning, you can also use beans (eg, lentils), seeds, and play dough. You don’t need to go shopping for this activity; simply use whatever you have at home!
If you live near the beach or have kinetic sand, you can use that as well!
Montessori geography 3-part cards: Continents
In addition, I have translated Montessori Continents 3-part cards in simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, and Korean. Typically, my daughter dislikes flashcards, but she loves Montessori 3-part cards because they are like puzzles. I recommend printing these geography flashcards with a color printer on white cardstock and/or laminating for durability.
Please note that the Montessori geography 3-part cards are originally from Imagine Our Life, who has generously shared her free templates. I am grateful for her sharing and that she has provided permission for translations!
You should check out her website for the English version, other amazing free printables, and sewing templates for quiet busy books!
Other educational printables can be found in our Printables Library for Subscribers. If you haven’t subscribed, no worries – it’s free and easy! Click here to subscribe!
Montessori Inspired geography: wood tracing map boards
Treasures from Jennifer is one of our favorite Etsy shops! We have the double-sided USA & Continents Wood Tracing Board (Click here to buy).
The names of the each continent and ocean are engraved in the beautiful, high quality wood. Each board comes with a wood stick for tracing the grooves around each state and continent!
Although our board is reversible, you can choose to buy only your country (eg, USA) or continents.
Since the labels are in English, we use Post-It notes to review continent names in Chinese and Korean. However, you can contact Treasures from Jennifer and ask if continent names can be labeled in different languages.
Montessori Geography felt world map with standard continent colors
We love the large Montessori Felt World Map from the Etsy shop EmIsCrafty (Click here to buy). While the map comes with English labels, you can easily make felt labels in any language.
The colors of each continent are consistent with typical Montessori maps as follows:
- Orange: North America
- 北美洲 (Běi měizhōu)
- 북미 (Bugmi)
- 北美洲 (Běi měizhōu)
- Pink: South America
- 南美洲 (Nán měizhōu)
- 남미 (Nammi)
- Green: Africa
- 非洲 / 非洲 (Fēizhōu)
- 아프리카 (Apeulika)
- Red: Europe
- 欧洲 / 歐洲 (Ōuzhōu)
- 유럽 (Yuleob)
- Yellow: Asia
- 亚洲/ 亞洲 (Yàzhōu)
- 아시아 (Asia)
- Brown: Oceania or Austrailia
- 大洋洲 (Dàyángzhōu) or 澳洲/澳洲 (Àozhōu)
- 호주 (Hoju)
- White: Antarctica
- 南极洲 / 南極洲 (Nánjízhōu)
- 남극 대륙 (Namgeug daelyug)
Felt naturally adheres to felt, but it’s also easily removable. My daughter has fun setting up the continents!
To give you a sense of size, you can see my son playing with toy animals on the felt map!
Other interactive ideas include, toy, origami, or boats and airplanes (eg, craft-stick airplanes) as a playful way to teach kids about the continents and oceans!
In addition to the large size for playful, hands-on learning, the felt map folds flat for easy storage! Due to limited space at our house, I appreciate that it folds into a small rectangle.
Here’s bird’s eye view of this grand map!
If you’re looking for something smaller, click here to see another Montessori Felt map on Etsy!
Compared to the map from Em is Crafty, the map from Casa Dei Bambini Crafts is more expensive. However, benefits of the more expensive map include:
- A control (continent shapes in white)
- Storage bag
- 44 felt animals
- 6 felt famous landmarks
See which one works best for your family!
World map puzzles for children
Melissa and Doug Map of the USA (Click here to buy) – My 4-year-old daughter loves this large, 51-piece floor puzzle!
Other hands-on geography puzzles and resources
Montessori continent boxes
From Jennifer has gorgeous continent boxes with Montessori colors!!
Non Montessori map puzzles
If you have a puzzle lover, here are other map puzzles that look fun and educational!
- Wooden Map of Asia Puzzle
- Wooden Map of USA Knobbed Puzzle
- Wood World Map Flag Matching Puzzle – Bilingual English/Chinese
- Wooden Chinese Provincial Map Puzzle – simplified Chinese
Traditional Montessori geography puzzles for children
On my wish list are Montessori world map puzzles for my kids. They are large and, in my opinion, the simple, unlabeled pieces make these the best learning maps for children.
The big downside is the expensive cost and large footprint. Montessori maps are definitely a big investment!
If you have room and budget for these puzzles, these are highly recommended by Montessori teachers and homeschooling parents. Below are links to Montessori map puzzles on Amazon:
- Teach My Continents and Animals Puzzle
- Map of the World Montessori Puzzle
- Africa Map Montessori Geography Puzzle
- North America Map Montessori Geography Puzzle
- South America Map Montessori Geography Puzzle
- Europe Map Montessori Geography Puzzle
- Asia Map Montessori Geography Puzzle
- Australia Map Montessori Geography Puzzle
World globes
Realistic world globe
- World Desk Globe: We LOVE this globe, which you can see pictured at the top of this post. This world globe is beautiful, realistic, and sturdy and a wonderful globe for long-term learning and even home decor! Recommended for ages 6+.
Montessori world globes
- Montessori Globe – World parts – recommended for ages 3-6
- Montessori Globe – sandpaper (land & water forms) – recommended for ages 3-6
What are your favorite Montessori geography resources for children?
Please let me know in the comments or message me! We would love to check it out, and I’ll update this post as we gather more resources over time.
Chinese activities for children
If you’re looking for hands-on Chinese learning activities in other subjects, click here to explore our educational activities library!
Bilingual Facebook Group
For families interested in Chinese learning in a Montessori-friendly environment, please join our Facebook group!
Montessori-inspired Kids Learning Chinese is a wonderful community of parents worldwide who are excited to share Chinese book recommendations and Montessori tips and learning materials.
Amanda says
What a wonderful collection! So happy to see all the hands-on resources you have for children!
Betty says
Thank you so much, Amanda! It’s my pleasure to share them! We are grateful for your resources as well!
Tiong sk says
Amazing! A very interesting and attractive way to learn about world map
Yvonne Yew says
Hi Betty,
Really impressed that a lot of mothers are talented and passionate about education. For me, i feel Montessori Geography let the child feel better and have a better imagination of the world. I think it is interesting to have a role play, passport, airplane, to the country, introduce about the country etc etc.
MJ says
Would love this for my little one as I find it will be a very helpful resource for teaching my little one.
Nengsi says
I feel Montessori Geography will be able to let my girl have a better imagination of the world.
And, I think by introducing Montessori Geography earlier, this would be able to give my girls the knowledge about different places on earth and how they relate with each other.
Alicia says
Hi Betty, thank you for sharing this wonderful resource. I love that it comes with different traditional Chinese and English. To teach my child, we will go through 3-part flashcards and songs related seven continents and 5 oceans.
E says
Thanks for sharing the resources. With my family lives across the world in different continent, I like my LO be aware where our relatives are and how each location has their distinguishing qualities.
jen says
Thank you for sharing the ideas! Love them! Hopr to win the big felt map for my two kiddos and their cousins to play and learn together:) Thank you so much for this giveaway!
Cindy says
Wow! I’m really excited about the resources you shared and also the giveaway. We don’t do much (if any) Geography at home so this will be a great start for us. Thanks for sharing!
Georgina Rangel says
Such wonderful idea to inspire and motivate kids to learn geography!!
Angelika Schmik says
Since I love traveling and learning about all the different cultures, I feel like it’s important to teach my children about our wonderful world and all the different people and nations in it. Of course, travelling would be one way of teaching them, but I guess the map (which is such a massive size!!) will do it for now.
Helen says
Hi Betty,
Thank you very much for taking the time to write this blogpost. It’s a wonderful summary of resources covering the topic on Geography and our world.
Your explanation on the Montessori way of teaching land and water forms first, brings an insight to me on how to teach my child.
Hoping to win the awesome map. We can combine the activity with the animals and landmarks of the world.
Thank you for the montessori map giveaway. Wishing you and your family well.
Best Regards,
Helen
Diana says
Looks like the perfect way to introduce the world (in multiple languages) to my LO, especially since all our family lives across the ocean.
Marcela says
Thank you for sharing all these resources. They seem wonderful for teaching kids about the world and the many cultures cross the world. Would be great to win the sweepstakes (:
Blingnsplitz says
Wow interesting page with resources for good learning opportunities for young children! Hope to see more
Rachel Lum says
Thanks for sharing the resources and free printable. The felt map looks like such a great way to start on teaching this topic. It’s a huge invitation to play.