We were excited to get back to using North Star Geography when we settled in here at Ecuador.
Of course I loved the fact too that North Star Geography is a downloadable product because I had so very little room to bring over physical books.
So though we have been able to read and talk about our geography we didn’t do any hands-on projects, which is the best part of geography because we did not have any supplies.
It has taken a few months to find supplies here in Ecuador. Now that we have a good amount of things on hand, we are eager to get started with the hands-on things we have been missing.
We started our homeschool geography with a diy lava lamp.
Hands-on Homeschool Geography
Actually, it has been a bit of an unexpected positive twist, but doing these hands-on activities much later has served as a fun review of what we studied months ago.
For example, in chapter 4 of our North Star Geography we talked about the earth’s structure and convection currents.
Our North Star Geography book said: “Convection currents: hot liquid rock closer to the core rises toward the surface, rises toward the surface, cools and sinks back to the bottom, where it heats up again.
A great hands-on activity to illustrate this is a lava lamp.
Too what I love about a lot of the hands-on ideas in our geography program is that they use a lot of materials you find around the house.
Look at this easy list of things you probably have around the house to do the lava lamp activity:
- Vegetable oil
- water
- dye
- alka-seltzer tablets
- flashlight
Fill your contain about 3/4 full with the vegetable oil and the rest of the way with water.
Add the dye, the alka-seltzer tablet and watch the color explosion.
The lava lamp does not show the heating process the way a true lava lamp would, but it’s fun and similar.
Too, add a flashlight behind it or under it to get the true effect.
Did you ever make a lava lamp in school? I did and thought it was the coolest thing I did.
I can’t wait for us to get through some more of the hands-on ideas from our North Star Geography and to share them with you.
Hugs and love ya,
Check out the other things we have done while having fun with North Star Geography.
Discovering Geography Through a Field Trip to Incan Ruins
Homemade Compass. Simple Geography Projects Equals Huge Wow Factors
Samantha @ Stir the Wonder says
This is so cool! Thanks for linking up at the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop! We hope you join us again next week!
Samantha @ Stir the Wonder recently posted…The Ultimate Guide to Hands-On Lesson Planning
Tina Robertson says
Thank you Samantha!!
Angela says
I can’t wait to make these, it looks so fun! I know my kids will enjoy this, thank you for sharing. 🙂
Angela recently posted…Homeschool Lesson: Learning About Skin (Human Body Unit)
Tina Robertson says
Hi Angela,
And so easy to make for sure!!