DIY continent map

When Sonshine was just 2 years old, he worked on the Montessori continent map. He loved it and it rocketed his interest for world maps, flags and the countries till this very day. (He's quite the expert now!) I cannot wait for Doll to work on it; she's not quite ready yet though. Before that happens, I decided to make a new continent map for her.

 

 

 

The version Sonshine worked on was made of paper wrapped in clear plastic (at that time I did not have a laminator). Blessed Doll, gets a prettier version!

 

 

Her map is purely made from felt which I painstakingly hand-stiched bit by bit. Sonshine, the professional, was watching me like a hawk, making sure I sewed the continents correctly. He was the one who quickly reminded me that I had left Tasmania out!

 

I am not that clever, I did not come up with the pattern (wish I did). The free pattern is from the good lady at Imagine our Life; you can get it here. The felt materials can be found in Daiso or even Popular bookstore.

 

I think I may have butchered her pattern. My scissors cutting skill is horrendous. Plus, I left out quite a bit of smaller islands because I was just too lazy to do it!

But to be honest, the sudden wavy curves every now and then makes it terribly tough to cut! And don't get me started on cutting the small islands! Glad that that's all over now!

 

 

I made two sets of it. One, as shown earlier, I stiched the continents onto the map. I cut out loose pieces of the continents but I deliberately did not attached them.

 

It is meant for the child to arrange the continent map as what Sonshine is doing in the above picture.

 

Viola!

 

So what else can we do with this map? Plenty!

 

Learn the continents of course! I printed the free 3-part cards also from the same blog page. Using the cards, the child can label them accordingly.

 

 

Match the cards by its shape (ok, and color).

 

And it starts to get more interesting.

 

 

We can sort the animals by the continent where they are commonly found.

 

 

Or sort famous world structures by the continent they are at. (I had Sonshine sort it out for fun & photo-taking, easy peasy for him!)

 

 

The minitures are Safari Toobs which I bought it from Mothercare.

 

We could even sort country flags on the map too! You can see how Sonshine did here.

 

 

I am so proud of my felt map and excited! Can't wait for Doll to get her hands on it!

In the meantime, I'll just take it out every now and then and admire it. :D