Feb 3, 20233 min read

MONTESSORI COLOUR CODED CONTINENTS AND HOW TO USE THEM AT HOME

When teaching geography, we begin with the big picture (the Universe) and narrow in until we are focusing on community, family, home, and ourselves. Developmentally this is more appropriate, and it helps the child understand where they fit into the grand scheme of things.

Geography in Montessori is split into two areas:

Physical geography (how the world is made)
Cultural/political (how humans fit into the world)

When teaching geography in Montessori, we use a colour-coded system for the continents. This helps the children remember each continent easier using visual stimulation. This colour coding system is kept throughout the geography materials, the continent globe, world maps, continent boxes and any supplementary materials.

Montessori Map Colors

Africa - green

Antarctica - white

Asia - yellow

Europe - red

Oceania/Australiasia - brown

North America - orange

South America - pink

SOURCING EQUIPMENT

Once the child has been presented with the sandpaper globe, which gives a tactile experience of understanding land and oceans, you can then introduce the continents globe.

Finding affordable Montessori equipment as a homeschooler can be challenging but the continent globe is easy enough to DIY with a bit of paint. Usually, the continents on a store-bought Montessori globe are raised, so if possible, use thick paint to give the same experience.

Consideration should be made when buying a world map poster, making sure it falls in line with the Montessori colour coding otherwise, it will confuse the students.

The same goes for puzzle maps; if you find an inexpensive puzzle map that doesn’t match the system, give it a quick paint job.

CONTINENT BOXES

Continent boxes contain a collection of small items that represent the continent. There can be souvenirs, postage stamps, coins, toy animals, landmarks, postcards and pictures, flags, musical instruments, samples of traditional cloth and crafts, etc.

The box itself usually has a colour co-ordinated image of the continent on the front, and you may want to include a large piece of colour co-ordinated felt for the child to place the objects on when using the box.

The continent box is a great way to evoke curiosity and get the child to ask questions. Children love small pieces of equipment and are drawn to hold and examine them and compare them to the real world.

For this reason, the objects in the box should be an accurate representation of the object. Pink giraffes or a Day-Glo Taj-Mahal is not a good idea.

Three-Part Cards

When you are using 3 part cards in a geography setting, they should also be colour-coordinated. The cards are often laminated with the colour-coordinated card or the border of the card is colour coded.

You can get started with a free set of Montessori continent and animal cards from the resource library here: https://www.jojoebi.com/library/

Jo

ABOUT JO from 193 LITTLE ADVENTURES

I'm Jo Ebisujima, a best-selling Montessori author and multi-passionate entrepreneur. I run The Wonder Mom Success Club - a membership for entrepreneur moms to get support while building their businesses. And also 193 Little Adventures Club - where families can take an adventure to a different country every month using a printable pack of Montessori-inspired materials and activities.

I built my business around my family, living & homeschooling in Japan. I use “Follow The Child” in every aspect of my parenting journey. I created 193 Little Adventures because I truly believe that if children learn about different cultures and ways of being from an early age, there would be less hatred and more compassion and understanding in the world. ❤️