Theme: Raising Global Awareness

Raising Global Awareness 

I love travelling with my kids. But travelling is not just for us to go to new places and check the box. Instead, for my family, travelling is about getting to know the different countries' culture, tradition, religion, food, people and their way of life. So for every holiday, the kids are doing experiential learning. 

This year, we are bringing the kids to Krabi, Thailand. This is the first time the kids are visiting Thailand and they simply can't wait to taste the food there and to see their caves, local market and also their temples. So travelling is just one way to help raise global awareness and also increase general knowledge in our children. 

As we live in a globalized world today, global awareness is very important. Firstly, academically, general knowledge is a necessity nowadays. It will help our children to write better with richer content. Secondly, as the kids are growing up, they will meet and work with people from all over the world. So knowing about their culture and way of life will definitely give them an edge. 

So, just before the trip to Thailand, I decided to have some pre-trip activities and here is our challenge task 9 . 

Challenge Task 9: Identifying the countries around the world. 

First, I printed a black and white map of the world.

I got Natalie and Emmanuel to sit together. I challenged them to identify as many countries as they can. They worked on it for about 15 mins and wrote down the name of the countries. Of course, I helped with the spelling.

After identifying the countries, I doubted if they really knew the geographical location. So, I challenged them to colour the countries. 

To my pleasant surprise, they actual know so many countries around the world. So I ask them where did they learnt it from. Other than the usual answer of books, they said they learnt most of the countries from the game we used to play - Plague Inc. The game can be downloaded onto the iphone or ipad. It's a game where the player role play a virus with the intention to spread all over the world. I use the game to teach them about how virus evolves and how it spreads. So, it's interesting that they learnt the world map when playing that game too. 

For my next challenge, I will be asking them to write down interesting facts about each country. 

If you like to travel as I am, why not make the most of the trip and ensure your kids learn the most out of it. Afterall, most children are visual and kinesthetic learners.. so help them learn about our world.