Olympics Geography Teaches World Geo Skills
Learn, Practice, and Sharpen Skills during the Beijing 2008 Games
Jul 29, 2008
Kids will have a blast learning and remembering the geographic facts of their favorite teams. They love following Olympic teams during the Games, and learning and practicing world geography can become an Olympics of Geography.
Dynamic, Hands-On Geography Activities
Here are some engaging activities that are easy to carry out. Basic materials are needed: a world atlas, some computer paper, crayons or markers, and a ball or beanie toss. Access to a an Olympic report on television, the radio, the internet, or in a newspaper or magazine is necessary.
- Each time a country is mentioned, the first person to say the capital scores some points
- When a country's team or player is featured, naming the bordering countries scores.
- Naming the closest capital to a capital scores.
- Naming the furthest country on the same continent scores.
- Naming a country that speaks the same language as another country scores.
- Ball tossing and passing from person to person with country names, or capitals makes review a game.
Basic World Geography Vocabulary
The following list can be printed out, posted on a board, or copied .
The Continents
- Asia
- North America
- South America
- Eurasia
- Australia
- Antarctica
Countries and Capitals
- Beijing, China
- Washington, United States of America
- London, England
- Paris, France
- Madrid, Spain
- Rome, Italy
- Athens, Greece
- Istanbul, Turkey
- Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany
- Mexico City, Mexico
- Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Santiago, Chile
- Brasilia, Brazil
- Bogota, Columbia
- Lima, Peru
- Quito, Ecuador
- San Salvador, El Salvador
More Beijing Olympics Geography Activities
- A free outline map of European and world countries can be found on several internet map sites. Children can then write down the continents, countries, and then their capitals. Be sure to use the word bank-list above for beginning learners!
- A real project for a child is to trace or draw his or her own map of a country, and then color it and fill it in with its capital, important cities, and famous natural landmarks.
- There will be so much in all of the media about the Olympics. When a team or a placer is featured on TV, the radio, the newspaper, or an electronic publication the following activities invite all to play.
- Country of the day: Each student chooses a country mentioned on the Olympics. He or she then has to list its capital, bordering countries, and its continent.
Raise the Flag Activities
- Each student chooses a country's flag.
- He or she then draws and colors the flag on a piece of computer paper. Free flag downloads can also be found online. Google images has every national flag too.
- Every time a country's team or player is mentioned, the student raises the flag.
Going over world geography skills in playful, tactile ways is the best instruction or review for all. Knowledge of continents, countries, capitals, flags is a must. Children know just how small our global village is, and being well-informed world-citizens is a must today.
