Geography is one of the most important subjects at school. With topics such as climate change, global migration and sustainability becoming increasingly important in our modern discourse, geography provides a crucial foundation to help children understand the changing world around them.
Here at our private school in Devon, geography plays a key role in pupil development, supported by regular outdoor learning and school trips. If you want to nurture your child’s interest in geography or help them understand its importance, here are some fun activities they can enjoy at home.
Field Surveys
A foundation of geography is simply being able to see what’s happening in the world around us. Whether examining how rocks transform over thousands of years or observing how people move around a town during an afternoon, simple observation can unlock many secrets about how the world works.
Field surveys are a great and easy way to inspire young ones to see their world in a different way. They can also be done anywhere you go with a simple notebook and pen! Here are some survey ideas:
- Observing all the different plants in the garden
- Going for a forest walk and noting all the different animals you see
- Heading into town and noting how the environment changes between urban and rural areas (traffic, noise, number of people, etc.)
Before and after the survey, you can look at some key questions to further inspire your child, such as “how could we allow more animals to live here?” or “how can we make this location less busy?”
Map Making
Maps are a really fun way to help develop a child’s understanding of the world.
Just like with field surveys, maps can be big or small and shaped around a point of interest. For example, a child could draw a map of their route to school, including all the natural features they see en route. Alternatively, they could try to draw a map of the town centre and all the different routes and shops there are. You could even let them hide some treasure in the garden and draw an accurate map so you can find it.
Map reading can also be a useful skill for children who want to take geography further. Activities like orienteering can be enjoyed by the whole family and give children an opportunity to test their skills while also enjoying time in nature.
Exploring the Globe
An often undervalued part of geography is the study of human activity. Geography encompasses a wide range of topics covering how human civilisations and cultures have developed, how people move and different ways people live.
A great way to inspire interest in human geography in young children is simply through exploring things like globes and atlases. These are great for understanding the scale of the world around us, how many different countries and civilisations exist and our own place within them.
Globes are a wonderful way to spark fascination in children, while atlases often come with additional information on different countries, such as population numbers, flags, currencies and languages. Expect to get a lot of questions from inquisitive young minds when you introduce them to all this information!
Weather Diary
Another big part of geography is not just understanding the world as it is, but how certain factors cause changes. Climate change is a crucial part of geography, but breaking it down into something as simple as the weather outside can make it more fun and accessible for children.
All you need to do is observe in a notebook how the weather changes over the course of a week or a few days. This can be as simple or detailed as children want; young children may simply observe how it changes from sunshine to rain, whereas older kids can observe different severities of rain. Also, try to note how the weather is changing the environment, such as the rain making the garden muddy, or sunshine making the pavements dry.
As with other activities here, by writing down what they see in our changing weather systems, young children can become inspired by how the environment changes our world daily.
As you can probably tell by all these activities, geography is always around us. Whether you want to inspire your child’s interest in the subject or simply help them recognise a changing world, there’s no limit to the number of things that can be learned at home simply through curiosity and observation.
