Wait for it Wednesday ~ Mapping or Earth Day activity

Mapping and understanding our place in this world is an important skill to have.  It is revisited often throughout elementary and even later throughout the school years.

I have a fun hands on experiment that makes learning this super   engaging for your little learners.  It has been used at my grade level for years and I wish I knew who to credit for this – it’s an oldie but a goodie!

One concept that is difficult for littles to understand is how much water covers our Earth.  They see the blue on the globe but even still it’s hard to realize just how much it covers.  So, I have done a little experiment with my firsties for years but can be used with almost any grade to help them understand it a little better.

First I have them make a prediction:  Do they think there is more LAND or WATER?

When they make their predictions I try not to have too much discussion so they aren’t swayed one way or another.  I just sit a globe in front of my room.  It’s interesting listening to them thinking aloud though – ” but look at all the land ” or ” I see lots of blue ”  If you want to try this hands on activity you can grab my mapping unit  { here }

BTW the ratio is : 71% water  29% land

It’s time for the spinning ~ the kids LOVE this!!!!!

Next I make an anchor chart and call on kids to come up and spin the globe.  They place their index finger gently on the globe and close their eyes ~ that’s important.  When the globe stops spinning they open their eyes and see where their finger landed ~ land or water.  

Lastly, we fill in our anchor chart to show that there is more water on our Earth.

This interactive activity is such a blast and it’s something your students will always remember doing.  It really gets them thinking about our Earth.  You can use it when teaching mapping skills OR if you already taught mapping skills do this lesson on Earth Day.  Have fun with it ~ ~ ~ Happy Teaching! 

It’s so much fun, you can grab it here.

xo,