FREE European Countries Fact Cards and {Learn & Play Link UP}

There are amazing shared printables this week! Before I go there, let me share with you my FREE European Countries Fact Cards that we used in our European Study Unit and The Study of Northern Europe. Mavi loved these cards, he keeps on reading them and learning about the currency, highest mountain, longest river etc. of 16 European countries.  Download your copy now!

 

 

Welcome to the Learn & Play Link Party!

Here are the featured literature-based activities for this week!

 

 

Finding Nemo Animals Matching by In Our Pond

Teach Decimals Visual Learners with Free Printables from Living Life and Learning

Do You Want to Make a Turkey from Sight and Sound Reading

Free Train Printables and Montessori-Inspired Train Activities from Living Montessori Now

Letter D Printable Pack from Welcome to Mommyhood

 

Now it’s time for this week’s link party! This is a BRAND new link up for all blog posts that include learn and play activities and hands-on education for kids. We are excited to read your blog posts and to see what you have to share! Please link up below and grab our button to display on your blog.

If you are a blogger, share your family friendly posts here. We are looking for things which include:

• Montessori Education
• Homeschool
• Sensory Play
• Tot and Preschool Trays
• Fine and Gross Motor Activities
• Kids in the Kitchen
• Healthy Recipes for Kids
• Arts and Crafts
• Natural Living
• Free Educational Printables
• Family-Oriented Activities
• Healthy Living

Your post will be featured on each of our blogs where we will pick our favourite posts every other week. That means there is more of a chance that you will be featured!

Everyone, please meet our link party hosts:

Christian Montessori Blog ~ Please visit our CMN FB group ~ Pinterest

Vanessa from Mama’s Happy Hive~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Jennifer from Study at Home Mama~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Marie from Child Led Life~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Jae from Pinay Homeschooler~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Heather from Golden Reflections Blog~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Renae from Every Star is Different~FB~Pinterest

GUIDELINES FOR LINKING

• Please link up 1-3 posts
• Follow each of the hosts on social media
• When you link up, please add our button and place it at the bottom of your shared posts or link back with text link.
• By entering a link, you’re giving us permission to feature an image on our blogs. Proper credit & links will ALWAYS be given.
• Please visit a couple of shared posts and leave a comment for them
• Remember that you must link back in order to be featured

Grab This Button:

<div align="center"><a href="http://christianmontessorinetwork.com/category/learn-and-play" title="Christian Montessori Network"><img src="http://www.christianmontessorinetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/learn-and-play-link-up-150-150.png" alt="Christian Montessori Network" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Please Follow
Follow Pinay Homeschooler's board Pinay Homeschooler on Pinterest.

An InLinkz Link-up

The Study of Northern Europe

*Contain affiliate links*

Mavi and I are looking into the different regions of Europe and we started with Northern Europe (of course, that’s our location!).  So as not to be overwhelmed, we only focused on 4 countries:  Denmark, United Kingdom, Ireland and Sweden (my bestfriend currently lives there and has been sending me lots of beautiful photos!).

So to learn about Northern Europe we have the following activities:

Naming of at least 4 Countries

We start off by identifying the countries in the Northern Europe. If you check my previous post, Mavi sorted out the countries in Europe according to regions.  So in this study we are focusing on four countries:  Denmark (for LEGO), Sweden (for IKEA), United Kingdom and Ireland.

I prepared this  country FACT CARDS for Mavi to read.  Things that you can learn from this fact cards:

• Capital and biggest city for each country
• Currency used
• Language
• Nationality
• Longest River of the country
• Highest Mountain of the country
• Climate
• Government

Mapping

I created this Europe Map 3 Part cards.  My intention here is for Mavi to easily identify the location of each country without using the puzzle.  The file also contains a blank sheet for him to do his own mapping.

Flag and Plotting Important Geographical Sites

For retention, I made Mavi create the flags of Denmark and Ireland using LEGOs.  He wanted it this way, rather than painting or drawing them on a cardstock.

I printed this map of Ireland from CIA site and laminated it.  The purpose of this activity is to locate the highest mountain of Ireland, the capital city and trace the longest river.  We did this with United Kingdom, Denmark and Sweden as well.  In order to reuse the map again, I laminated it and used dry erase pen to mark the map.

Famous Landmarks

For the landmarks, I printed this coloring sheet from Education.com.  Mavi wants to color them but later on decided to create a replica using his LEGO.

This is his interpretation of the Stonehenge and Big Ben tower using LEGOs.

Important Facts About Northern Europe

Expanding our knowledge, we took out some of the fact cards from our Europe in a Nutshell, identify those that belongs to Northern Europe and study them.  So here are the things Mavi learned:

• Puffins. We saw a few of them in Cliffs of Moher when we visited the site last summer.
• Vikings
• Shamrocks and Celtic cross in Ireland
• Fjords in Scandinavian countries.

 

Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google Plus, Instagram or Twitter for updates!

And you might as well PIN this post for future reference.

Learning the Timeline of European History

I am so excited to share with you our approach on learning the timeline of the European history.  As I mentioned earlier, my son is obsessed with world history, especially with the events in Europe and Asia (his home continents!) so while he is at it, I grabbed the opportunity to discuss the great history of Europe.  To achieve this, I created these beautiful  timeline cards which contains bold pictures (because kids are attracted to pictures) and included a brief description for each of the event.  I thoroughly researched this, and handpicked the major events to be included in the cards. We were always reading the books of the Story of the World series, but most of the events in the cards were not included in the book.

Our timeline cards covers the 4 periods in history:  ancient times, medieval times, early modern times and modern times. 

Goals

• In each period, we will identify the fundamental needs of man:  Spiritual (love, religion, culture/community) and Material (shelter, transportation, food and clothing)
• Identify the locations in the map where the event occurred
• Historical figures that played a major role in that historical period
• Be able to arrange the timeline cards
• Compare the impact of each period to Mavi

Ancient Times (up to 500AD)

My Ancient Time Cards starts from the event occurred in Mycenae to the end of Byzantine Empire.  We talked about how Greece played a major role in the beginning of the European history, great conquerors like Alexander the Great, the rise and fall of Rome. It was obvious that aside from the material things, religion played a major role in the development of the European culture.  

Modern Times (500AD to 1500)

Major events include the wars in Europe after the fall of Rome, the Black Death, the crusades, the significance of the Vikings in forming what is now known as the Great Britain, Constantine and Charlemagne, the separation of Orthodox and Roman Christians.  

Early Modern Times (1500-1900)

The Early Modern Times is all about Renaissance, and because of Industrial Revolution, people started to explore places. Inventions of steam train, and ships.  But there were also civil wars like in France and between England and Scotland.  Mavi and I identified the causes of these wars and yes it’s all because of the fundamental human needs.

Modern Times (1900 – present)

Modern Times was quite challenging because Mavi asked a lot of questions in this period.  Most especially in the events of World War I and II, and the wars in the Baltic.  There are just certain things that you can’t explain to a 7 year old.   So I just told him stories of what I know (I have yet to purchase the Vol 4 of the Story of the World) and what I read in the web.

Using the Cards

Our aim is to arrange the cards according to the time of events.  We set up a few craft strings in our shelf where we can pin the cards.  This is an amazing technique for visualization of the entire events!

Seen below, Mavi is reviewing his work, making sure he’s arranging the time in order.  I previously taught him how the BC and AD works, so this is a perfect opportunity to put that knowledge into action!

He loves the cards and enjoys reading the description.   I wanted the cards to be as attractive and engaging to Mavi so I made sure that I don’t put too much facts into the description.     Because of this, I created another set of cards for the “longer” description .

He was proud of his work and asked to take a photo of him with his work LOL.

So this is how I explained and presented the history of Europe to my 7 year old boy . 

Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google Plus, Instagram or Twitter for updates!
And you might as well PIN this post for future reference.

This post is part of the 12 Months of Montessori Learning which is hosted by Natural Beach Living and The Natural Homeschool.

Learning about the Presidents with Montessori Activities (Free Printables) by Natural Beach Living

Montessori-Inspired History: Sense of Time {Free Printables} by The Natural Homeschool

How to Prepare Montessori 3-Part Family Cards and Family Tree Activity by Living Montessori Now

Linear Calendar for Kids by Planting Peas

Timeline of our Family -- Intro to Montessori History by The Kavanaugh Report

Montessori Calendar for Kids by Mama’s Happy Hive

How to Introduce Time to Kids by Study at Home Mama

5 Ways to Learn Asian History by Child Led Life

Learning the Timeline of European History by The Pinay Homeschooler

Our Montessori-inspired Timeline of Life by Every Star is Different

Exploring History Through the Great Lessons by Grace and Green Pastures

Now for the AMAZING GIVEAWAY!!

My friends and I in the 12 Months of Montessori Series are having a giveaway!  Join and have the chance to win $150 gift certificate to Montessori Services plus Montessori by Mom Art Toolbox!  This giveaway is open to all  US and Canadian readers only. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Europe Unit Study (Elementary)

We are revisiting our Europe study, this time I’ve decided to take it by regions.  But before we delve into that, we reviewed some of the things we’ve learned in the past years.

European Regions.  Here’s a new study for this year, learning Europe through each regions.  Here I was showing Mavi the divisions and the boundaries in the map.  I bought this map years ago at Montessori Print Shop.  So we’re doing a color code here based on our map in Europe in a Nutshell.  Blue for northern Europe, red for western Europe, green for eastern Europe and orange for southern Europe.

Flags. The same goes to the flags. To be able to remember the countries easily, we just limit to 3-4 countries per region. You can get these mini-flags from my Flags of Europe printable.

We always worked the pin flags because Mavi enjoys this activity.  The pin flags are included in my Flags of Europe file.  My pin flags are really old and has been used so many times.  I shall make a new set for Xavi when he needs it.

Animals of Europe.  Mavi is sometimes confused of the animal list between North America and Europe so we always review this.  The fact cards seen here are from my Animals of Europe printable (includes 3-part cards as well).

New activity this year is examining and matching European animals with their covers.  This was a hit!  My animal figures matches the printable. How cool is that?  The animal covers are part of my Europe in a Nutshell and the animal figures are from Schleich.

Here’s a closer look.

Landmarks.  Beautiful and historical landmarks in Europe are too many to mention, so in this study we’re only picking a few based on the regions.  My aunt who visited us early this year brought me a few Safari Toobs and one of which is the landmark toob that includes the Stonehenge in UK and the Colosseo in Rome. You can get the World Landmarks and Around the World Toob from Amazon and the cards are from Europe Landmarks file.

Now to put into action, Mavi worked sorting maps and flags according to regions using our Europe Puzzle Map. More about it here.

 

For our past Europe studies and materials, click the links below:

Europe Study Part I

Europe Study Part II

Continent Study: Europe Part I (Kindergarten)

Continent Study:  Europe Part II (Kindergarten)

Materials for Europe Study

Europe in a Nutshell

Learning About the European Regions

Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google Plus, Instagram or Twitter for updates!

And you might as well PIN this post for future reference.

History of Ancient Europe

If you’ve been following us in Instagram, you should all by now know that Mavi is obsessed with world history.  It all started with his fascination with Horrible Histories and then he started to borrow books from the library.  That’s why I purchased the Story of the World books to feed his interest.  We’ve been reading it for awhile and almost done with Story of the World Book 1: Ancient History.

I wanted to share with you how we study world history at home.  Aside from our previous lessons of Ancient Egypt, Mavi wanted to learn about the history of Europe.  So this is where we are focusing as of the moment.  These cards are included in my Europe in a Nutshell file.

I just added the description cards for personal use, whenever we wanted to review the details.

The cards are currently displayed on top of my shelf so Mavi can work on them anytime.  This is the best way to learn the time periods as well, like what’s BC and AD

After I introduced him to the time periods, he arranged the cards by himself.  He was confused with the BC and AD at first but he later on grasp the concept.

Now, pictures and fact cards aren’t enough, we’ve got to locate these in the map!  Here Mavi is seen locating Crete, where Europe civilization started.  An understanding of  geography and location will make the child understand the history and culture of the ancient people.  We also located the Mediterranean Sea, the gateway of ancient Asians who entered Europe and where most of the battles occurred.  The map is from the activity book of the STOW Book 1 printable version.

As I mentioned earlier, we are reading STOW Book 1 to go along with the cards but doesn’t entirely equate to the details I put in out Ancient Europe Timeline cards.

Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google Plus, Instagram or Twitter for updates!

And you might as well PIN this post for future reference.

Hands-on Learning on European Regions

Mavi is into geography once again and we are revisiting Europe.  My approach for this year’s study is to look at Europe through the different regions.  It’s easier to understand and internalize facts when they’re into smaller groups than attacking it as a whole.

So I created these label cards for northern (blue), western (red), southern (orange) and eastern (green) Europe.  The color coding is based on our map in Europe in a Nutshell.  The mini flags seen in the photo is from Flags of Europe printable.

He easily identified Greece, Italy and Spain as southern Europe.

Our Montessori Europe Puzzle Map is from Absorbent Minds UK.

 

After he sorted some of the countries, he proceed on completing  the puzzle map on his own.  I provided a control map from Montessori Print Shop.

I love that he removed the puzzle pieces and placed them on a basket instead of scattering them in the rug.

More updates on the Europe Continent in the next coming days so stay tuned!

Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google Plus, Instagram or Twitter for updates!

And you might as well PIN this post for future reference