I’m excited to share our favorite Montessori geography resources! This post has geography printables and hands-on Geography materials, including felt and wood maps and globes for kids!
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Geography printables
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: All of my printables are editable! Feel free to adjust the language according to your family’s learning needs! 🙂
You can also use the map printable for sensory play! Below is an example of using oats for tactile learning, but you can also use beans (eg, lentils), seeds, and playdough – whatever is on hand at home! We did not glue the oats so that they could be reused. (Actually, we at the oats for breakfast the following day because they were clean!)
In addition, I have translated Montessori Continents 3-part cards in simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, and Korean. My daughter normally dislikes flashcards, but she loves Montessori 3-part cards because they are like puzzles. I recommend printing these with a color printer on white cardstock and/or laminating for durability.
Please note that the Montessori 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. I highly recommend visiting Imagine Our Life’s website if you are interested in DIYing beautiful Montessori materials!
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!
Geography wood tracing boards
Treasures from Jennifer is one of our favorite Etsy shops! My kids love the 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! Our board is reversible, but there’s an option to buy USA only or continents only.
Here’s a peek at the United States!
On the other side are the continents!
Since the labels are in English, we use Post-It notes to practice identifying the continents in Chinese and Korean. However, you can ask Treasures from Jennifer if she can carve the continent names in different languages.
Geography puzzles for kids
We love the large Montessori Felt World Map from the Etsy shop EmIsCrafty (Click here to buy). The colors 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! You can also use toy boats or airplanes (eg, craft-stick airplanes) as a playful way to teach kids about the continents and oceans! It’s a great big space for playful, hands-on learning, and it also folds flat for easy storage. English labels are included, but you can easily add felt labels in any language.
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 but the benefits include a control (continent shapes in white), storage bag, 44 felt animals, and 6 felt famous landmarks.
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
From Jennifer has gorgeous continent boxes with Montessori colors!!
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
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. 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
- World Desk Globe (pictured at the top of this post) – This globe is beautiful, realistic, and sturdy! This is a wonderful globe for long-term use! Recommended for ages 6+.
- Montessori Globe – World parts – recommended for ages 3-6
- Montessori Globe – sandpaper (land & water forms) – recommended for ages 3-6
What are you favorite geography resources for kids? 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.
If you’re looking for hands-on Chinese learning activities in other subjects, click here!
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 great community of parents worldwide who are excited to share Chinese book recommendations and Montessori tips and learning materials.
Hope your family has fun learning about geography, friends!
What a wonderful collection! So happy to see all the hands-on resources you have for children!
Thank you so much, Amanda! It’s my pleasure to share them! We are grateful for your resources as well!