Learning basic geography - books, apps etc of the UK and the World

[2021hastobebetter]

I realised tonight that our family geography is pretty rubbish.

I got them colouring books for national flags prior to christmas which they enjoy (I have all age ranges from primary to secondary here!).

We want to learn uk geography as a family-in happier times we might do tours etc but at the moment that's all out.

What TV programmes can teach us about UK geography? Any apps or games for learning cities etc of the UK? And any resources you might recommend.

I know the sporcle website is very popular but usually with older children (sort of 9 or 10 through to adults really).

www.sporcle.com/games/category/geography

They have different types of quizzes, e.g. name all the countries of Europe. I prefer the "find" quizzes where it will name a country and you have to click it on a map or otherwise where it highlights a country on a map and you have to name it:

www.sporcle.com/games/Chenchilla/europe-find

www.sporcle.com/games/teedslaststand/find-world-countries

www.sporcle.com/search/quizzes/?s=find%20country

For UK specific they have some games, like name a city in this circle:

www.sporcle.com/games/Rackie/circle_city

Match the city to the country of the UK:

www.sporcle.com/games/Mateo56/wheres-the-scillyness-i

Find the ceremonial counties of England (this is a more fun clicking one):

www.sporcle.com/games/smac17/ceremonial-counties-of-england-picture-click

You might need to spend some time with an Atlas first. An old fashioned atlas can be fun.

For younger children, we found this game helpful.

www.elc.co.uk/games-and-puzzles/learning-games/Early-Learning-Centre-Travel-The-World-Game/p/541004

We have a large poster of Britain, and use it to show where Uncle Fred lives etc. We also have a globe.

Mapominos. It's a card game... You need to match borders.

The leapfrog globe is quite good for world geography and facts and has interactive games that multiple people can play together or in teams.

My daughter loves it and it has interactive videos teaching you about the people, culture, famous sites, animals, topography etc for every country / region of the world including the oceans.

Oddizzi is very good.

We have maps on the wall in the kitchen- kids on the habit of looking at them while eating and often pop in to check something. Agree with pp re Mapominoes.

Try jigsaws. You can get them for different stages of difficulty.

Mine love the quizzes on Seterra. They got really good, really quickly!

an interactive globe is fab for all of the family, some are pricey but really worth it for world geography xx

Possibly also games like Ticket to Ride and Pandemic, which are map based.

I also enjoy Geoguessr. It plonks you somewhere in street view and you have to work out where you are and guess on the map. There’s various different versions. They selfishly made it so you can only play free once a day

And I second Sporcle - I learnt all the countries of Europe that way (as procrastination from my uni work at the time!).