Children can learn about the continents with this free printable set that makes learning fun and interactive.
After our Solar System Activities I figured we needed to talk about things a little closer to home, or at least on our planet. So today I am sharing World Map Activities and free printables that can be used as coloring pages for the continents as well as labels for matching and reading. It’s a great time to learn about geography!
So when I was in school I remember being taught that there are 7 continents (North America, South America, Asia, Europe, Australia, Africa, Antarctica) and I always thought it was weird that Asia and Europe were considered continents even though they are clearly attached together. Some now believe that there are only 6 continents combining Europe and Asia, and still others believe there are only 5 continents combining North and South America. I really like the 6 continent idea so I made a 7 continent printable and a 6 continent printable to make sure she would learn both ways so she would be familiar with both terms. You can read more about continents here National Geographic FAQ.
This post is part of the Creative Preschool Series, please make sure to see what other fun Map themed activities our team has come up with at the bottom of this post. and in case you missed it here are more topics we have covered; Shapes, Science Experiments, Learn About Food, Fine Motor Skills, Hair & Body, Fairy Tales, Ocean, Plants & Flowers.
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Build a World Map
World Map Continent Printable (available towards the bottom of this post)
Large blue poster board (optional)
Globe (optional)
Use the continents to build a world map.We did this activity two ways. First I laid down the continents in their relative location, and then my daughter placed the matching name on top of the continent. Since I printed each continent on a different colored piece of paper, she was able to easily match the colors together. The second way we did this was I laid down the names, and she placed the continents. We used our globe as a reference to figure out how our continent should be oriented (top, bottom).
We compared our paper continents with the one on our globe. We located our home and talked about people we know on other continents.
Build Pangaea
Supplies:
World Map Continent Printable (available towards the bottom of this post)
Large blue poster board (optional)
Directions:
Cut out continents and move them around to form one big land mass. We did this several times. It was fun trying to fit the pieces together like a puzzle.
We talked about how long ago the continents used to be all together but they broke apart to create our modern day world.
Create Your Own World Map
Supplies:
Multi colored craft paper including blue
Scissors
Glue
Markers
Directions:
Have the child draw continents on the multi colored paper, cut them out, and then glue them on their blue piece of paper. My daughter had a whole story about her world and the people who lived on it. It was fun watching her create and talk about her own continents.
If you are doing this with a class or large group it would be fun to build a map together by having each child add their own continent.
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World Map Continent Printable
Preschool Map Activities by Creative Preschoolers
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I love your daughter created a story to go with her world map. What a great way to explore other cultures and the whole world!
These look like fun activities. Oof. I didn't know that there was debate about the number of continents! I feel like I need to go back to school again to learn all these facts (and Pluto not being a planet… whaaat?)
fun introduction to geography! Thanks for sharing at our FB Share Day!
I was taught that there are 6 CONTINENTS and 7 PARTS OF THE WORLD. Eurasia is a continent, Europe & Asia are parts of the world. So no confusion 🙂 Thank you for sharing!