Lesson notes for the senior group “Journey to the Land of Knowledge”

Studying geography in kindergarten

Methodological development “Geography in preschool educational institutions - the way to understand the world around us”

This experience exchange material can be used by methodologists (senior educators), preschool teachers, and parents in their work.
Here is a system of working with children of senior preschool age to familiarize themselves with the environment, familiarization with the science of “geography” in connection with “ecology”. Here you can find the answer to questions about how and how to interest children in studying such serious sciences. Goals: 1. Development of elementary natural scientific ideas about the earth, nature, and the population of our planet; 2. Development of cognitive activity in children of senior preschool age; 3. Teach children to study the world around them, learn to protect and love nature. Objectives: 1. Develop in children ideas about the unity of the world around them; 2. Develop children's cognitive interest and curiosity; 3. Cultivate a love for nature, a desire to preserve its beauty and uniqueness; 4. Lay the foundations for children’s moral attitude towards nature, fostering an environmental culture. “The basics of geography make you become a poet!
You cannot describe our bright planet with a dull word...” I.I. Lando Children and Geography... Some may say that school terms are not consistent with preschoolers. Not at all, and I will try to show this in my work. An inquisitive child's mind absorbs all the information that interests him, especially if it is presented in the form of a game. The first foundations in studying the world around us should be given by teachers of preschool institutions. Studying the world around us can be diversified by studying the basics of geography. The study of geography in kindergarten is very little advertised; the material needs to be collected bit by bit, using scientific and methodological literature in the form of children's encyclopedias, geographical fiction, geographical board games, and Internet resources. This subject is not included in the preschool curriculum, so there is a need to collect material, summarize it and present it in a form that is convenient for working with children. Children's first ideas about themselves and the world around them are often very fragmented and unsystematic. The task of teachers and parents is to help them realize that every person is part of this huge world. Geography is the science of the surrounding space, filled with mysterious and completely unusual things, replete with exciting stories about travel. This work is about how and how to interest children and parents in studying this interesting, multifaceted, fascinating science. Today, in our era of rapid development of civilization, humanity is increasingly faced with environmental problems. Man is accustomed to taking everything from nature and giving nothing. Living under the slogan: “We cannot wait for mercy from nature,” human society is increasingly harming the environment, and this is taking on a huge scale, affecting our health. Our planet Earth can only be saved by man himself, deeply understanding the laws of nature, realizing that he himself is part of this nature. We see that moral, environmental education and human upbringing are becoming increasingly important. It is sad to realize that industrial development is increasingly harming the environment. When extracting minerals, we see that most of them go to waste because the latest technologies are not used enough. What about environmental pollution by human activity? Overcoming the environmental crisis only by technical means is impossible; it is necessary for a person to understand his place in the world around him. We all need to cultivate environmental consciousness, and today it is the duty of every teacher to form this consciousness among preschoolers and schoolchildren, our younger generation, among those who will competently continue our traditions of nature conservation for future generations. Ecological consciousness has an interdisciplinary nature, in which the main role is played by natural scientific disciplines: geography, physics, biology. Therefore, the value of studying geography for preschoolers is to teach children, and often parents, to take care of their home, street, city, realizing that this is our habitat, which must be kept clean for our own good and health. Preschool children by nature are explorers of everything that surrounds them; they are interested in learning everything. Every day they discover new objects and unusual phenomena. Preschool children are interested in everything, encourage them to think, and ask interesting questions. Sometimes they comment on what they have learned, adding their own perspective, using a non-standard, interesting explanation. Children are prone to discovery, they are excited about traveling to distant countries, and in this the teacher will provide them with great help by studying geography with them. By satisfying their curiosity, learning and exploring the world around them, children master cause-and-effect, classification, spatial and temporal relationships, which allow them to connect individual ideas into a single picture of the world.

Geography is the science of the surrounding space, which is filled with mysterious and completely extraordinary discoveries and travel stories.
In order for children to become interested in this science, it is advisable to introduce them to it already in preschool age. Traveling around the map contributes to the development of geographical concepts, connecting serious things with play. For such games, the material needed is physical and political maps of the world, a globe, a map of a city, district, region, republic (country), small flags of various countries to indicate the travel route. The main motto of such games is to recognize, compare, distinguish and connect facts and phenomena in space. The importance of this work is to awaken the child’s feelings, to interest him in studying the world around him, not only within the city, district, region, but throughout the world. It is necessary to teach a child to evaluate a person’s behavior in the world around him and express his opinion. Preschool teachers must create appropriate conditions for this, using a variety of materials to familiarize children with the science of geography. A prerequisite for achieving the goals of the project is working with parents. Parents should know what teachers teach children and support children's interest and curiosity. Where should a teacher start? Of course, from the study of scientific and methodological literature, a selection of interesting information for the child, a selection of photographs and illustrations. We must remember that the main thing for a teacher is not to give the child ready-made knowledge, but to interest him so that he himself tries to learn something, ask, find something. Classes with children are based on the principle of game-based developmental learning and are aimed at developing curiosity, an inquisitive mind, developing the ability to analyze one’s own observations, compare them with others, generalize and draw conclusions. The teacher teaches children to ask questions, see and understand the beauty of the world around them, and conduct experiments. During the classes, a variety of methods are used: conversation, reading fiction, the method of educational games, asking problematic questions, looking at photographs, illustrations, paintings, telling stories, asking riddles, coloring coloring books on a geographical theme, observation, experience, watching “Fashionable Geography” videos. Subject to systematic work at the end of the school year, the following results are expected: - Formation of elementary natural scientific ideas about the Earth in children of senior preschool age; — Increasing interest in nature and caring attitude towards planet Earth; — Children use special terminology in their speech, replenish their vocabulary with geographical concepts; — Children’s level of observation increases; — Children know how to draw conclusions and put forward hypotheses; — Parents’ interest in studying this science with their children, collecting interesting material, accumulating practical materials. How to start an imaginary journey? 1. Select a country 2. Select the type of transport that will be more convenient to travel by 3. Study the symbolism of the selected country, its natural area, and characteristic features.

What might we encounter on the way?

Such trips help to master the cardinal directions, get acquainted with the compass, learn the names of the seas and oceans, compare the flora and fauna of different climatic zones, find out what kind of people live there, what they do, what kind of houses and architectural monuments they have.

In a playful way, it is much easier for preschool children to master the natural and cultural symbols of different parts of the world: for Africa - giraffe, hippopotamus, desert, savannah, for Antarctica - icebergs, penguins, for Australia - kangaroos, platypuses, koalas, etc.) During such game travels, the map gradually “comes to life”: the flags of the states that have been studied appear on it. Children have the opportunity to consolidate their knowledge. Seeing a map with symbols, children better remember the countries they have met; visibility is very important for a preschooler. Sometimes children ask to repeat the trip to their favorite country.

On each continent there are countries that differ in climate, flora and fauna, landscape, cities, flags, anthems and coats of arms.

Children really like to guess riddles about countries, capitals, and color coloring books on a geographical theme.

Traveling along the map is also accompanied by reading works of art written by storytellers from different countries: the Brothers Grimm, G. Uhland - Germany, Charles Perrault - France, L. Carroll, R. Kipling, E. Seton-Thompson, A. A. Milne - England, S. Lagerlöf - Sweden, D. Harris, M. Gorham - American writers, G. H. Andersen - Denmark, D. Rodari - Italian writer. A variety of children's literature contains a lot of interesting information, including geographical knowledge. The more children read, the more extensive their ideas about the world around them will be. Before reading, you need to talk about the author, find on the map the country in which he lived and wrote his works. If the book describes any country or locality, you need to find it on the map and talk. So, reading about Carlson’s tricks, we will find the country of Sweden on the map. Reading the well-known fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood”, we will tell you what its storyteller, Charles Perrault, who lived in France, wrote. When we are going to read the fairy tale “Cipollino”, we will find on the map Italy - the country of the storyteller Gianni Rodari. Kipling's tales will introduce little geographers to the animal world of India. Traveling with Doctor Aibolit, children get acquainted with the fauna of Africa. It is very good if books are rich in illustrations, biological and historical objects. Children love to look at them, memorizing a lot of useful information, which will greatly facilitate further schooling.

Very educational videos for children “Fashionable Geography”, where in an interesting way children get acquainted with the characteristics of the countries: Russia, Canada, Japan, Egypt, Australia, Switzerland, Great Britain, USA, Germany, Greece, Mexico, India, Brazil, France, Italy, Spain and others.

The board game “Journey to the Continents” is also interesting for children, as it introduces children and consolidates their knowledge of the six continents and four cardinal directions: North, South, West, East. Along the way, I remember the animals that inhabit these continents. The word game “Mail” reinforces knowledge of city names. An approximate list of questions and answers on studying geography for children: - What is travel for? (Gain knowledge about the world, countries, diversity of flora and fauna) - What does geography study? (Geography studies countries and seas, islands and continents, rivers and lakes, cities and villages. Or rather, their location) - What is common and how does a globe differ from a world map? (A globe is a model of the Earth, and a map is a flat image of a section of the earth’s surface) - How many oceans are there on the Earth and what are they called? (4 oceans: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic) - Which ocean is the largest? (Pacific) - Which ocean is the smallest? (Northern Arctic) - The coldest place on Earth? (The North Pole of Cold is located near the village of Oymyakon in Yakutia. The lowest temperature recorded there is -71.2°C. A new minimum temperature record was recorded by scientists in Antarctica. It was just two degrees lower than the previous one and amounted to -91.2° S. In such conditions, a person’s eyes and lungs can freeze in a couple of minutes) - Which continent does not have seas and rivers? (Antarctica) - Which seas have colored names, why were they given such names? (Black Sea, Red Sea, Yellow Sea, White Sea. The name of the Yellow Sea was given by the “yellow” river (as translated from the Chinese Yellow River), which flows into it. It is so muddy and dirty that it makes the sea water yellow. In addition, in in the place where the sea is located, in the spring very often there are strong storms carrying yellow dust. This dust colors the water of the sea yellow. The name “Black" sea received due to the fact that in ancient times this word had the meaning of “inhospitable": This is how the sea was nicknamed by the Turks, who were trying to completely take control of it. Also in ancient times, the north was called “black”: the sea located in the north received this name. The easiest way to understand the origin of the name of the northern one is the White Sea: this is the whitest sea from snow and ice. Red the sea got its name from the large number of red-brown algae floating on the surface. Also in ancient times, “red” was called the south: the sea located in the south received this name.) - What is a jungle? (Wet, impenetrable forests with bushes and vines) - What is a desert? (The word “desert” speaks for itself: desert means empty. In the desert there are no seas, rivers, or lakes, so it rarely rains here. Sometimes in deserts there are real downpours, but because of the heat, the water quickly evaporates) - Where do birds of paradise live? (In Australia and New Guinea) - What is interesting about lakes Baikal and Chernilnoye? (The deepest lake in the world, Baikal, is located in the south of Siberia. Baikal is one of the greatest lakes in the world, the cradle of many ancient tribes and peoples, stretches across the surface of the planet for 600 km. Due to its amazing shape, natural features and bottom structure, the bowl of Baikal has been has since been divided into three independent parts - Southern, Northern and Middle. Each of them is unique, each has its own character, vegetation on the banks, landscape and even climate. In Algeria there is a natural lake filled with ink. It is called Ink Lake. In this lake there are no fish or plants, since the toxic dark blue ink is only suitable for writing with.) Each country has its own personality and flag. Children get acquainted with some countries, their location features, architectural monuments and flags.

Children are very fond of geographical riddles and jokes: - What city can be in the air? (Eagle) - Which city is the angriest? (Grozny) - Which city is the sweetest? (Raisin) - Which island considers itself clothing? (Jamaica) - Between what two letters can you put a small horse to get the name of a country or island? (Japan) - Which city is named after a fish? (Pike perch) - Which city does blood flow through? (Around Vienna) - Which river can be cut with a knife? (Prut) - Which city is called the gateway to Donbass (Kharkov) - Which sea does not contain fish? Why? (In Dead. Very salty water.) - Which country can you wear on your head? (Panama) - Which country's outline resembles a boot? (Italy) - Where do dry rivers flow? (On the map) - What river is in our mouth? (Gum) - Which river is named after the dishes? (Taz) Study of our native land using the example of our city and region. The hometown is a small world from which a child’s acquaintance with the big world begins. It is very important to develop in children an understanding that their native land is a part of a great power. And when children learn to love and preserve the region where they live, they will also treat the various beautiful places throughout the country. For example, the children of our city of Novoazovsk study with interest the nature of the BOOPTRZ “Khomutovskaya Steppe - Meotida”. The area they explore together with their teachers can be observed with their parents. What their teachers give them, they consolidate together with their parents. What is interesting about the Meotida conservation area? These are unique sections of the coast of the Sea of Azov, they still have well preserved the main features of the original nature of the Azov region, wetlands of international importance “Bay and Crooked Spit” and “Bay and Belosarayskaya Spit”, the uniqueness of the vegetation cover, the richness of the flora with rare species. The rich fauna of the park has no equal in terms of bird species diversity. Even in harsh winters, snowy owls and snow buntings feel comfortable near the sea encased in ice, and graceful mute swans roost on the estuaries. The pride of the park is the numerous colonial settlements of hydrophilic birds on the arrow of the Krivaya Spit - unique on a European scale. The symbol of the park is the avocet, a beautiful bird that lives mainly on the sea coast. The number is declining everywhere, but in Meotida, thanks to close protection, this is a common species. Children travel not only through natural landscapes, but also through historical times, when the Sea of Azov was called Lake Meotia, and the territory from the Azov to the Black Sea was called Meotida. Children from the environmental group get to know the secrets of protected areas. A reserve is a place where rare and valuable plants, birds, animals, unique areas of nature, and cultural values are protected and preserved. “Reserved” means inviolable. Botanical reserve "Khomutovskaya Steppe" (Khomutovo village, Donetsk region) (received reserve status in 1926), National Natural Park "Holy Mountains" (Svyatogorsk, Donetsk region..) (created on December 13, 1997 by Decree of the President of Ukraine ), National Park "Meotida" (coast of the Azov Sea) (created on June 30, 2000 by decision of the Donetsk Regional Council, and on October 3, 2001 it was accepted into the international organization EUROPARC Federation, in December 2009 it was granted national status by Decree of the President of Ukraine)), in 2015, it was renamed into the BOOPTRZ “Khomutovskaya Steppe Meotida” (The biosphere specially protected natural area of republican significance “Khomutovskaya Steppe - Meotida” was created in accordance with the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Donetsk People's Republic dated 06/03/2015). Rich illustrative and artistic material contributes to the development of children's interest in exploring corners of unique virgin nature. While getting acquainted with the protected areas, the thought constantly passes through: “The fate of these places and their inhabitants depends, first of all, on YOU!” The task of teachers is to do everything to ensure that children do not remain indifferent to the environment, to the problems that exist around them. It is necessary to attract parents to cooperation and conduct active explanatory work among them. Educators have an important task - to interest, teach, consolidate the acquired knowledge, and most importantly - to instill in children such behavior in nature, which will become in the future a life position on preserving the environment. Systematicity, continuity in environmental education, accessibility in teaching material are necessary conditions for achieving the desired results. And it is very important that the work that is carried out in a preschool institution is continued by teachers at school. Only then will the seed of interest and knowledge sown in children's souls bear sprouts and fruits in the future. Only then will children’s behavior not show negative manifestations towards objects of nature, and sympathy for nature will appear as a living part of human life. Let's establish the relationship between two sciences: geography and ecology . Geography is a word translated from Greek that means “description of the earth.” The word “ecology” comes from two Greek words and is translated as “house” and “science”, that is, the science of the house. And a home for a person most often is walls and a roof, for an animal - a forest, field, mountains, for fish - oceans, seas, rivers, lakes. This means that every living thing has, as it were, its own home, and for everyone together – our planet Earth. And living together in the same house for very different creatures is very difficult. Here you can quarrel, and take away a better place, or even just cause harm. And if you start a war among yourself, then it won’t take long for the whole house to fly into the air. So the science of “ecology” is called upon to study thoroughly in all its subtleties how individual residents of our large “communal apartment” not only get along, but also interact with each other. After all, for example, if you cut down a forest, the forest river will dry up, animals will disappear without water, the earth and even the air will deteriorate, since the forest is a source of oxygen. Or, let’s say, on the contrary, the wind from the factories will drive the air, spoiled by toxic impurities, onto the forest, and the forest will die, and then everything will follow the same bad chain again. Teachers introduce children to the mistakes of humanity using the example of different countries: Canada (the story of beavers), China (the story of sparrows), England (the story of wheat and mice). Nature requires a careful attitude towards it, and not only scientists, for whom the reserve is a laboratory, but also all observers of this beauty are responsible for it. A person’s attitude towards nature is considered one of the indicators of the level of personal development, a criterion of humanity. A person must feel and realize that he is part of nature. These connections with nature must constantly live in his consciousness, in his attitude towards the environment. And how adults (parents, educators, teachers) teach children to relate to this environment depends on their health and future as a whole. It has already become common for the inhabitants of our planet to celebrate World Earth Day on April 22 every year. Together with their parents, children participate in the ecological landing “Let’s decorate the earth with trees and flowers” - they plant trees and flowers, and then take care of them. When getting acquainted with their native land, children need to familiarize themselves with the map of their country, region, find their district, their city. In order to find your street and your house, you need a city map. This way children get an idea of several types of cards. An interesting technique when introducing geography is to invite children to talk about their travels to other cities and countries, what interesting things they saw, what struck them most, what souvenirs they brought from there, and show children photographs of memorable places. Children relive the emotions of the trip and learn to tell their friends about them. Geography is one of the most interesting areas of knowledge for children. Any child shows interest in the structure of the world around him, he is excited about traveling to distant countries, and is interested in the people and animals that live there. Children ask many questions about why the seas and oceans are called that, why earthquakes happen and volcanoes erupt, why the water in the sea is salty, what is at the bottom of the sea and ocean, whether dolphins can talk to humans and much more. It is easy for children to remember that blue on the map and globe represents rivers, lakes, seas, and oceans. Children can begin to get acquainted with the water resources of the planet with the “colored seas”. They will be interested to know that on our planet there is a Black, White, Red and Yellow Sea. We found them on the map and took a trip to find out why they got their name. The Yellow Sea has a yellow tint. The name comes from the color of the water caused by sediment from Chinese rivers and, to a lesser extent, dust storms. In spring, yellow dust storms are so strong that ships have to stop moving. The Red Sea is home to red algae. During the period when algae grows rapidly, the water appears to turn red. The White Sea really has almost white water color. The Black Sea was nicknamed so because of its restless nature and the black color of the water during strong storms. We have found out the peculiarities of the name, now we can study what countries surround these seas, what kind of people live there, what do they do? It is very good to present your impressions in the form of a drawing. Such travels will not only expand geographical knowledge, but also train thinking, memory, and develop imagination. Why the Mediterranean Sea has such a name, children can guess for themselves if they carefully look at the map where it is located. It will not be difficult to explain why the Sea of Japan and the South China Sea have such names. But you will have to think about the origin of the name of the Dead Sea and look for the answer together with adults in the encyclopedia or the Internet.

Besides classes and games, where else can you study earth science? Of course, on a walk. We simply draw children’s attention to the world around them and tell them. For example, about soil. What is black soil, how is it formed, what plants grow on it. What plants grow on sand? What is better for plants: black soil, sand or clay? How do they differ in their properties? You can take a compass with you for a walk - a necessary device for a traveler. This is a great opportunity to introduce children to parts of the world. Children should know that in the morning the sun rises in the East, and in the evening it sets on the other side - in the West. Can the sun get confused and rise in the West? Children should have the idea that this is impossible, because the Earth always rotates in only one direction. Every child should be taught how to use a compass when out walking. The red arrow points to North. If the child faces the North, then behind him is the South, on the left is the West, on the right is the East. The “Find the Treasure” game is very interesting with children on a walk. A plan map is drawn in advance, on which buildings, trees, stumps, sports equipment, etc. are marked with symbols. Children participate in the discussion and then look with interest for the cache indicated on the map. This game not only expands geographical knowledge, but also trains children's spatial thinking. For children with their developed imagination and wild imagination, any event that seems insignificant in our opinion can become a geographical adventure. But you can go in search of the poles. Children will learn that the Earth has two poles: North and South. A globe is very useful here so that the child can see on the model of the Earth that the poles are opposite. The upper pole is the North Pole, and the lower pole is the South Pole. It will be interesting to know that the poles receive less solar heat than other continents, which is why the coldest places on Earth are located here: the Arctic and Antarctica. Children are given the concepts of “polar day”, “polar night”, “iceberg”, children get acquainted with the animal world and natural conditions. Gradually, children become acquainted with all continents.

Children can be introduced to the concept of “equator”. It surrounds our Earth like a belt. This is the place on Earth where it is always hot, because it receives more sunlight than other places on Earth. Children will be interested to know that there is no winter at the equator. Children get acquainted with hot equatorial countries and their inhabitants, deserts, jungles, and the animal world. Children love fairy tales very much, so the theme of the Earth's treasures will be interesting to them. Can we really see these treasures ourselves? The most amazing thing is that the treasures are near us! These are minerals.

Fossils are called that because they need to be searched for and dug out of the ground, and they are called useful because they carry great benefits for all people. What minerals surround us? Mom cooks with natural gas. This is a natural fossil. Cooking is impossible without salt; salt is also a mineral; it is mined in salt mines. The dishes from which we eat are made of clay, glass is made of sand. Those who have stove heating in their houses use coal. Monuments in squares and parks are made of marble and granite. All these are minerals. Chalk, which is used to write on the blackboard at school and with which children draw on the asphalt, is also a mineral - chalk. The favorite pastime of many children is drawing. This means that there is also a mineral next to us - graphite, from which the lead of a pencil is made. Children will be very interested to know that there are also minerals from which expensive jewelry is made. Diamonds are made from diamonds, and precious stones are made from precious stones (ruby, opal, sapphire, emerald). With interest, children get acquainted with photographs of these stones, and also learn that these stones are expensive because they are rare and working with them is very painstaking, requiring knowledge and skills. The topic of familiarization with geography is very broad, but no matter how much theoretical knowledge a child receives, children’s travels with their family are the best study of geography. It is very good when children tell their peers about their trips, what interesting things they have seen, and show photographs of the places they have been. Traveling children with their parents broadens their horizons and adds diversity to their understanding of the world. It is important for teachers to teach the child to see this diversity, to understand the reason for the differences between different natural zones depending on the geographical location of cities and countries. Why is it when it snows in cities located north of our city, but we continue to have a fairly warm autumn? Why don't people wear winter boots and fur coats in Africa? Pretty simple questions for adults. In order for a child to answer them, he needs to have information and be able to draw conclusions. And this is what we must teach them. In early childhood, children develop the ability to perceive new impressions, preferably if they are bright and interesting. In the future, curiosity develops, the desire to find interesting things in the world around us. And it’s not necessary to only travel long distances; not all parents can afford that. Even trips in the vicinity of their hometown, district, region will give children the opportunity to better understand the structure of our Earth (seas, steppes, mountains, forests, plains, hills, ravines, etc.). Children learn to observe and draw conclusions from what they see. To study geography, children of preschool age need to use various materials that are available in educational and fiction literature, in board games of a geographical nature, in videos, in riddles of a geographical nature, in coloring pictures of cities in different countries. Acquaintance with geography begins with your home street, city and ending with huge continents and oceans. Based on all that has been said, a teacher can build his work and educational process on the basis of play and research activities, combining all possible forms of activating children’s cognition and creativity. And this work will captivate children only when the teacher himself puts his soul into it and finds such interesting material that the inquisitive mind of the child cannot remain indifferent. By studying geography, we teach friendship among all peoples of the Earth!

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