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Books Geography Hands-On Learning Sensory

Me on the Map Geography Nesting Cans

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Have you ever read the book Me on the Map by Joan Sweeny?  It’s a favorite of mine.  To go along with that book, I want to share a fun geography nesting cans project.  You will LOVE these! They are the perfect way to help kids begin to grasp geography concepts.

I started a series of posts recently called Geography Projects from A to Z that goes along with the book Geography from A to Z by Jack Knowlton.   So far we have done Atoll & Archipelago as well as Beach & Bay. Check them out- they were really fun projects.

Geography nesting cansgeography projectsgeography projects

How to Make Me On the Map Nesting Cans

This month we decided to do a geography project that is a little different but I still thought it went along well with the series.  It was a blast and the kids really enjoyed it.  We made Geography Nesting Cans based on the book Me on the Map by Joan Sweeny. If you haven’t seen this book, or the others in the series, I highly recommend looking into them!  They are so much fun & teach a lot in a fun way.

me on the map project

Geography Nesting Cans with Me on the Map

Me on the Map talks about all of the different places we live.  It starts with earth, then shows continents, countries, states, cities, streets, house and then our own room.  To represent this we made cans representing them.
geography project
Each can we covered with a paper that the kids colored to show where they live. We taped them on with packing tape and put some printed scrapbook papers behind them to cover the rest of the can.
 Geography nesting cans project

The largest can we used was a formula can and showed our earth. Then we used cans that got smaller in diameter and fit inside of one another. Finally they drew a map of their room and put it inside the can of their house.

 

geography project

We found where we lived on various maps, too.  We looked at a world map and a globe to find our continent and country.  Then we looked at a country map to find our state.  To find out city maps we looked at Google Maps- then we could even see our houses on the map!
 geography lesson for kids- me on the map
Pin this Geography Nesting Can project to save it for later!
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19 Comments

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Comments

  1. SortingSprinkles says

    March 15, 2013 at 1:58 pm

    I like the idea. Very hands on way of presenting such a concept to a young crowd.

    Reply
  2. Michelle says

    March 15, 2013 at 1:58 pm

    So cute! I don’t think I have ever seen this used with cans before!

    Reply
  3. Lynn Nash says

    March 15, 2013 at 4:18 pm

    This is a great idea! I am forever trying to explain to my youngest son that France is not in our state of PA! This will do the trick. Thanks for sharing at Creative Learning.

    Reply
  4. Gwen T says

    March 15, 2013 at 12:30 pm

    That can idea is a really good one – it would help one of mine who thinks it’s confusing that we live in Texas and also the USA! I love making geography real to my kids. I got good grades in school, but some things like geography never sunk in until I started homeschooling! 🙂

    Reply
  5. Michelle says

    March 15, 2013 at 4:36 pm

    What a clever idea! I wish we hadn’t already done the traditional paper version of this craft this year so we could do this one! Great idea to use Google Maps, too!

    Reply
  6. Shaunna Evans says

    March 16, 2013 at 2:24 am

    I love how concrete this is for little learners! This was such a hard concept to teach students in the classroom, but this activity would have been very helpful.

    Reply
  7. Ticia says

    March 16, 2013 at 4:32 am

    I love this book, and I love the hands on aspect of this. I’ve always taught this using a layered book for them to make, but I like the stacking cans.

    Reply
  8. Lori says

    March 16, 2013 at 1:53 pm

    I love the idea! I think this is something we will definitely use. Thanks for sharing it!

    ~Lori

    Reply
  9. Mia says

    March 17, 2013 at 6:59 pm

    What great ideas to explore geography!

    Reply
  10. JDaniel4's Mom says

    March 17, 2013 at 9:04 pm

    Your nesting cans are an amazing idea! I need to make a set for JDaniel. I will be sharing this post on Facebook and Pinterest.

    Reply
  11. Caroline says

    March 18, 2013 at 3:42 am

    Great idea! I’ve seen this kind of idea before, but not with cans. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  12. Jackie Higgins says

    March 19, 2013 at 5:38 pm

    I love your cans! They are so cheerful but teach the lesson so well… Oh, and I love Me on the Map. Great book!

    Reply
  13. Savannah McQueen says

    March 20, 2013 at 4:39 pm

    What a great idea. My daughter has a hard time grasping concepts like the relation of her town to the country and continent. I will try this approach. I hope you’ll consider sharing this on Look What We Did.
    -Savannah http://hammocktracks.com/buttons/

    Reply
  14. Beth Gorden says

    March 22, 2013 at 10:44 am

    Love the nesting cans to teach geography – so clever!

    Thanks for linking up to TGIF! Hope to see you linked up again later today! Have a great weekend,
    Beth =-)

    Reply
  15. Carrie says

    March 22, 2013 at 9:32 pm

    What a wonderful idea for this book!! I love using the cans. So clever. Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!

    Reply
  16. Anna says

    March 23, 2013 at 12:57 pm

    Wow, this is such a genius way to teach basic geography. Definitely pinning this for the future! Just have to start saving those cans!

    Reply
  17. Erin says

    February 27, 2014 at 12:26 pm

    This is such a creative hands-on way to approach basic geography. Love it!

    Reply
  18. Mr. Giso says

    March 25, 2014 at 4:28 pm

    This idea is pretty cool and great for the Earth!
    I featured it on my blog post today.
    Thanks for the inspiration.

    Mr. Giso’s Room to Read

    Reply
  19. Michelle says

    May 24, 2017 at 2:30 am

    This is great! May I ask where you found the perfect size printable maps?

    Reply

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Hi! I'm Karyn.
I am a former teacher turned homeschool mom of four kids. I LOVE teaching! I believe learning should be enjoyable and engaging. My goal is to ease the burdens of educators by offering memorable learning activities.
Questions? Contact me here: karyn@teachbesideme.com
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