DIY Montessori Flag Pin Map

The first step is to hang the wall map. Then, you will need to tape the tracing paper over the continent that you are working on. Carefully trace the continent and all the countries, and remove the tracing paper. See Picture Here

Next, you need to cut the tracing paper around the outside of the continent leaving all the countries intact. Once that is complete, you can use the marker to trace around the continent on to the cork board. Once the outside of the continent is completed, you have to get to work on all of the countries. Each country must be carefully cut out, placed on the cork and traced. 

I suggest starting with the largest outside countries first and moving inward. This was the most time consuming part of the project. See Picture Here Once the continents were complete, I retraced every thing one more time with the permanent marker to get clean, dark lines. 

Once the continent is complete, you need to make the flags. I purchased the flag images from Montessori Print Shop so that I would get accurate, high quality images. To make the flags, I cut out each flag, glued them shut then laminated. Once laminated, I cut out each flag again and taped a T-pin to the back. This was also very time consuming. 

At this point, I'm only done with three of the continents. But, despite how laborious the project has been, I'm happy I've under taken it! Henry loves these maps and talking about specific countries. I foresee lots of country studies in our future! 

In order for Henry to complete the work, we use the wall map for him to check where the pins go. I know I could make a control map for him, but at this point the wall map gets him up and moving (which is so important for him) and it also lets him exercise his love of finding words (the name of each country is clearly written on the back of each flag and on the map). 

Some of these continents are quite the undertaking for Henry. He is so proud when he completes them! It just amazes me the concentration and joy that Montessori materials illicit. It's a wonderful thing to watch, especially when your child is so engaged! 

Is your child interested in other cultures? Have you undertaken a time-consuming DIY?! 

12 Months of Montessori 

This post was brought to you as part of the 12 Months of Montessori series! This month's topic is culture. Make sure to visit these wonderful bloggers for Montessori ideas and activities on studying other cultures! 

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