Getting More Out of It

Practicalities Getting Organised Getting More Out of It Geography 

Geography is the most obvious subject to cover when on the move. When you are planning the trip, show your child where you will be going on a map or atlas. Older children can understand about scale and can work out how far they will be travelling. Planes with individual seat back television screens usually have a map showing the plane's progress and are particularly interesting because they show that the curve of the Earth's surface means journeys aren't always as direct as they look. Tell children the names of th oceans and countries they will be crossing and explain about time differences.When you are in a foreign country teach children the name of the capital city, the chief rivers, the language that is spoken and the main religions. Buy postcards to take home as well as to send and encourage children to keep scrapbooks of tickets, lolly wrappers and found objects.The National Curriculum, used in British schools, breaks down into:

General Titles

Journeys: Discovered through Geography A&C Black, £4.50, 5-7 years
School texts aimed at investigating key stage topics but relevant when travelling.

My World and Globe Ira Wolfman, Workman Publishing, £12.99 4-7 years
An interactive introduction to geography with an illustrated book, 40cm inflatable globe and 100 geographical stickers. 4-7 years.

Geography Detective:
Islands; Deserts; Rivers and Valleys; Mountains; Grasslands; Rainforest; Seas and oceans; Tundra Philip Sauvain, Philip Steele, Zoe Books, each £8.99 8+
Colour photographs, maps and diagrams to explain geographical questions.

Philip's Environment Atlas David Wright, £9.99, Philips, 7-12 years
Produced in association with the World Wide Fund for Nature, combines elements of geography, natural history and ecology. Quiz questions, puzzles and activity ideas.

First Book of Britain Usborne, £7.99 10+
A guide for children and parents with regional maps indicating places to go and things to do.

Map Reading

Mapwork I Wayland, £4.99 5-9 years
Mapwork 2 Wayland, £4.99 5-9 years
Designed to develop early map reading skills with games, puzzles, and activities.

My Town Rebecca Treays, Usborne, £4.99, 4+.
Basic concepts of geography, including map reading, introduced with fold-out flaps, cross sections and cut outs. Geared to National Curriculum Key Stage 1.

Roundabouts Maps and Journeys Kate Petty and Jakki Wood, A&C Black £4.99 5+A fun book designed as an introduction to the subject, telling readers what you can find out from a map and the symbols that are used, how to draw a map, for example of where you live, and how to follow a route without getting lost.

The Oxford Junior Atlas Activity Book, OUP, Patrick Wiegand, £2.30, 7-11 years.
A book of activities designed to be used in conjunction with the Oxford Junior atlas.
Covers mainly mapping skills (32 pages).

Atlases

There are countless editions of children's atlases aimed at different age groups. Some are:

The Children's Giant World Atlas Heinemann, £14.99 4+
A bright atlas with giant maps on thick board pages. Can also be hung up to make a wall chart.

My Very First Oxford Atlas £4.99 4-7 years
32 pages, aimed to fit with KS1 of the National Curriculum with a simple introduction to mapping and a source of geographical information. An illustrated glossary explains the meaning of some of the words found in the atlas.

Kingfisher First Picture Atlas £5.99 5+
Illustrated with political and relief maps and flags, question and answer activity boxes, easy to use grids, symbols and scales, illustrated facts on countries, continents, fauna and flora.

Philip's Children's Atlas David and Jill Wright, £9.99, 7-12 years
With 96 pages, information on people and places, photographs and fact boxes, curiosities, flags and quiz questions. Guidance is given at the beginning on how to use the maps.

Illustrated World Atlas Macmillan, £9.99, 8-12 years
Key facts, a unified approach to text and illustrations, organised on a spread by spread basis to cover five main themes per region: people, places, nature, family and industry.

Reader's Digest Children's Atlas of the World Reader's Digest, £16.99, 8-12 years
50-plus digital maps, 3,000 illustrations of places, peoples, landmark and wildlife, World Fact File on every country and major territory, easy to follow introduction to mapmaking and map reading, glossary of geographical terms, spreads on world's structure, climate, wildlife resource and peoples, quizzes and other activities.

The Oxford Junior Atlas OUP, £7.99, 7-11 years
72 pages covering National Curriculum topics including that of the round earth being turned into flat maps, rivers; weather; settlement; and environmental change.

The Satellite Atlas David Flint, Belitha Press £10.99 9-14 years
64 pages using photography from space and accompanying maps and including smaller satellite images with detailed close-ups. topic boxes on people, the environment and political issues.

The World Atlas And Cartographic Publishers, £12.99, 10+
96 pages with detailed maps of countries and regions, country by country fact files, photographs and illustrations, explanations on range of topics.

The Oxford Practical Atlas £8.99 10-14 years,
96 pages with maps of the UK and the rest of the world, information on land forms, volcanoes and earthquakes, thematic maps and an index of place names.