Hi,
I have been teaching my dd geography through using mapsI have blown up from www.ducksters.com I then cut them out and my dd colours themin and we then glue the map back together
you can check out my blog http://intellikidsdownunder.blogspot.com/2012/02/stab-at-teaching-geography.html
Karma to you Mary and a big hug to Megan
Btw if you have videos of your children, would you mind sharing them? My daughter is very responsive to seeing other children and often wants to imitate them 
I’m totally stealing your idea Kimba, it’s just too cool not to. Great blog also.
Well done Megan!
If you haven’t seen the Stack the States and Stack the Countries apps, they are phenomenal…Alex has learned flags, capitals everything you could ask for in a geography app!
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=dka2P0PZqwc
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=vySX3LjBwi4
We love to cross reference various geography app, maps, and we also LOVE the Montessori-style wooden map with insertible flags!
BTW- GeoPuzzle games are completely adaptable for young toddler, especially with bit of prior knowledge! They also make fantastically detailed cards tha can be used for EK or about five different card games each! Alex likes to take the stack of world country cards and sort them by continent…
Well done Megan! I would like to buy also Wooden World Map with Flags.
Any one please direct me to buy the same from amazon or some other sites?
Thanks in advance.
–Tanvi…
Cheapest on EBay in Australia. Also available from dinodirect and Amazon. Some in the montossori shops too but at twice the price.
Thanks you Mandaplus3 for immediate reply… I saw the same in dinodirect, but in their forum few said they did not collect their items. Did you ever buy from dinodirect? Can i trust the site?
Ebay.au is not shipping other than Australia.If you can find the same in amazon, could you please send me the link?
Thanks…
_ Tanvi…
Tanvi-
Here is the one that we ended up buying, I think it was only about $30! The site was great, very helpful and the materials were FAST :yes:
Keri, I have just read your older post and I loved the little piggy idea :laugh: Have you uploaded anything ?
Thank you
Thank you so much Manda, Hypatia, Kerileanne, and Tanvi for the kind words! I really appreciate them.
What a great suggestion Manda! I will check out some of those pencil grips at Amazon or look for them at Walmart. I haven’t taught her how to write letters and numbers yet but she loves to scribble with colors and use her FP Doodle Pro for drawing. She likes to mimic me drawing her favorite toy bear (I just draw it with a bunch of circles, and she can mimic me drawing circles) and draw our family-mommy, daddy and Megan. One time she surprised me with her drawing. She was pointing at her drawing and said “This is daddy!”. Her drawing looks more like a cat! lol But I love it! Thank you so much for the great suggestion and for the overwhelming compliment!
Hi Kimba. I love that idea! I will definitely apply your idea too when my baby gets a little older to learn how to cut and paste. A good way of introducing arts to her too aside from learning geography. Thank you so much for the link. I will browse your blog to get more educational ideas. Thank you so much!
Hi Hypatia. Thank you so much for the Karma! I don’t mind sharing my baby’s video. That’s really good how your daughter likes to imitate children in videos doing educational stuff. The same way with Megan, I show her some videos in YouTube of children doing puzzles, etc and she likes mimicking them. She also likes to mimic Yakko pointing at the countries (like in the video above-Nations of the World by Animaniacs). She likes to use a ruler to point out the countries in our wall map.
I actually started putting videos of my baby in Youtube to share with my mom and relatives back home what my baby is up to. They’re always asking if Megan has new videos. My homeland is actually on the other side of the world from where I live now. When I joined Brillkids I shared some of her videos as well and thought some parents may like the ideas on the videos too.
Hi Kerileanne! Alex playing Stack the States and stack the Countries is really awesome! Great job Alex! How old was she when she started playing it? Manda also suggested that I check out Stack the Countries a few months ago (Thanks again, Manda!) and I checked the demo in Youtube. It seems too advanced for my baby at that time as the game involves rotating the country before you stack it, etc. but it seems like a really great app! And thank you so much Kerileanne for mentioning this game app. I am inspired by Alex and I may start playing it myself first before teaching Megan.
I have seen those Geo card games before at Amazon too and thank you so much for the helpful review! I added them to my list to buy.
Hi Tanvi. I’ve searched for that toy at Amazon and Ebay when I was looking to purchase it before but no luck. I will help you recheck it though. I will let you know if I found one.
I stumbled upon an Australian shopping site which leads me to DinoDirect and bought it which cost a total of $32 including shipping(I chose regular mail- 7 to 14 business days), and $2 insurance(optional).
http://www.dinodirect.com/flag-inserted-in-world-map-toys-children-s-educational-currency-AUD.html
For some reason I thought the product was made in Australia, but other than that I am satisfied with the product as my baby loves it. She always gets the basket where I stored the flags and says “play flags!” You may want to check out Kerileanne’s link to Flags of the World toy too! Thanks for the compliment on Megan, by the way.
Lelask-
Sorry, I never uploaded any of our 'this little piggy verses as you are the first to show any interest! I will type some out for you…
MaryOfUs-
Alex had actually only played either Stack tthe Countries or Stack the States on and off for about a month when I took the video! I originally thought she was just messing around with the app, trying to imitate Mom and Dad (we bought them for us!). She actually reads all of the questions out loud, but in the beginning, it wasn’t until we unlocked the ‘bonus’ game inside that we realized she was able to name all of the countries as they dropped in the Pile Up game. In fact, she would frequently ‘lose’ because she was to captivated by naming themas they fall to worry about matching the one prompted by the game! (btw- I am completely confident that Megan is ready for it, even if she still needs you to read the questions :yes: )
And as far as needing to rotate the country in order to stack it properly? Don’t worry about it! They Will eventually all stack up, even if not perfectly arranged! Besides, it just means more practice answering the question lol
Also, there are many Montessori-styled geography apps I will link below, including an app version of the insertible flags of the world…they are all great, and there are also app versions of almost all of the wooden Montessori puzzles for each Continent, landforms, even zoology like vertebrates, invertebrates, even plant parts…
Hhhmm, I can’t seem to bring up a list of all of them together in the App store, but they are all made by the company Rantek Inc, and all the geography ones are called ‘A Montessori Approach to…’ if you go to one and hit the tab marked ‘Developer page’, 79 of their come up! (they even have Spanish versions!)
Ooh this thread is great!
I have used dinodirect on numerous occasions ( at least 10 times) with no problems at all. Shop with confidence I always read the reviews and they are spot on every time. I would be very surprised to find they are made in Australia, it’s not the type of thing we could produce cheaply, so I would say it’s am imported item.
Here is 1 amazon link, there are others http://www.amazon.com/Montessori-World-Map-Flags-Stand/dp/B00696PW3E/ref=sr_1_49?ie=UTF8&qid=1339565003&sr=8-49&keywords=World+map+flag more expensive than dinodirect for me.
Maryofus
I really liked getting the utube video links. I had forgotten about them…anyway last night before bed in less than 5 minutes I taught alll 3 kids the continents of the world song. This morning I tested them by starting to sing it over breakfast…all three joined in thanks! I will teach them with the map this afternoon to be sure all of them can locate the continents while they sing. As our world map is on the toilet wall this could be interesting! lol
We shall try another song tomorrow
Megan would have no problem with stack the countries, try out the free version, I think you will be as keen as she is, we play it as a family quite often. I showed my dad and he was late to the dentist because mum couldn’t get him off it! :laugh: It’s addictive. Turning the countries is optional.
If she can draw a circle she can start to write. Some pre writing tasks like tracing lines may be useful…or she may hate them lol Also you can start to show her how to draw different things. Point out that people have a head like a circle, a body like an oval, arms and legs…ect. Faces have eyes. Dogs have legs. Just encourage her to draw what she can see. I usually start by laminating a copy of their name, so they can use a whiteboard marker or texta to trace it over and over. We use crayolas washable markers for everything. They always while off ( even skin!) and run smoothly over a page with little resistance and great colours. Plus a pencil grip will fit on them
Off to check out the montossori apps… :biggrin:
Thanks a lot for your reply Kerileanne99, maryOfUS and Mandabplus3 . You guys are rocking…
After hear from you all, i got confident to place my order from Dinodirect… Thanks again guys.
I have tried Geopuzzle today and I was surprised how quick she was giving me the right countries ! We have Gepuzzle Europe. We did some continents games in the past but not countries - well she has used the montessori app few times this week. I am also going to buy the montessori map with flags, she was pointing to the right countries today and I am sure if she could put flag there that would be even more exciting for her.
I am also going to check the other apps you have mentioned here.
This thread is great :yes:
Hi Tanvi. You are most welcome.
Hi Manda. You are right! The toy is not made in Australia but imported from another country. Thank you for clarifying it to Tanvi. I should have typed my previous post clearly.
(previous post)
“For some reason I thought the product was made in Australia, but other than that I am satisfied with the product as my baby loves it”
I should have said that: “For some reason I thought the product was made in Australia when I placed my order, but when it arrived I found out that it’s made in another country, other than that I am satisfied with the product as my baby loves it.”
Manda, that’s cool that your 3 kids sing together the continents of the world song! And I am imagining your cool son making funny stuff while learning geography on the toilet! :laugh:
Megan can draw circles but not that perfect yet, but she’s getting there. I like ALL your tips and ideas on teaching how to write! I will surely apply them. Ah! Crayola’s washable markers are great! That’s what Megan needs. Thank you so much for the suggestion!
Kerileanne & Manda, I downloaded the Stack the States and Stack the Countries and I love it. I will play it on my free time and will teach Megan when I’ve mastered it.
Keri, I googled Rantek Inc. (http://www.mobilemontessori.org/) and there are lots of pretty neat apps out there! Thank you so much! By the way, I subscribed to your YouTube channel and left a message for Alex in her Stack the States video.
Hi Lelask. Great job for you and your little one in doing the geography!
Thanks for mentioning the Geopuzzle. I will give it a try too!
Ummm maryofus…you do realize your daughter will learn stack the countries and stack the states quicker than you right lol lol lol 
My husband and I were playing Intro to geo last night and laughing about our inadequacies.We said we would feel pretty silly once our son started beating us.
Hi there!
Is this the app you are talking about: introduction to grography by montessorium? Which “only” covers America?
I would love to teach about the rest of the countries too…
The intro to geo I have only covers north America. 
we love it… I am hoping that they will release more continents soon
Hello Early Learning 17!
That is one of them but they make many, many more! I just tried again to find the complete list in the app store for all of the Rantek, Inc., MobileMontessori apps
The best thing to do is to use the search function in the app store to find ‘Montessori Approach To Geography’, but DO NOT select one from the drop down menu, just hit enter or go…
This will pull up all of their geo apps, done primarily by continent…they have a separate one for each continent, a landforms, world, etc…
And that is not even mentioning all of their awesome zoology/ botany/ etc apps! When your toddler says "oh, mommy, that’s not the eye, that’s the tympanum, I promise you won’t regret the money for these lol