My daughter has really struggled retaining the names of the 50 states. We’ve tried music and workbooks and iPad games and trivia during dinner.
But I think it was all just too abstract for her.
Enter map blobbing. I love love love the idea! We’ve been using the idea to learn the continents. One day the idea popped into my head that we could modify the idea to help her learn her states too. And she doesn’t need to draw it to retain it! Why, she could play-doh blob the states instead! Everything is more fun with play-doh!
So I searched Pinterest for the cutest FREE USA printable I could find. Hands down it’s this one. I printed & laminated & added magnets to the back so it can hang on our white board. We just pull it off the board for geography lessons. I have her shape play-doh over 5 (gradually increasing the number) states of her choice. She then has to tell me the names of the states she’s play-doh blobbed.
You can make it as intensive as you’d like. My goal right now is just helping her learn the names of the states and where they are geographically. The natural connections, like places we’ve been or have family help make it more concrete too.
This is so much fun even the 7th Grader can’t resist helping when he happens to find her state blobbing!
…danielle
That's really a great idea :-)
ReplyDelete