Geography Skills

• Basic geography skills such as locating countries, capital cities, bodies of water and continents are important, but studies indicate children learn much more than fun facts from geography games. According to the National Council of Social Studies, "Young children who are active participants in a highly structured and sequential series of geographic inquiries can learn complex analytic processes... Evidence indicates that children do possess complex spatial information and can abstract information from map symbols." A Canadian study, "What Works? Research into Practice," discusses how games build numeracy skills, "such as scale, perspective, distance and orientation."
  
  

Choosing Geography Puzzle Games

• Several factors need to be considered when choosing a geography puzzle game. First, take into account the age of the children. This will help determine the appropriate learning level. Second, determine the best teaching method. Do students enjoy computers, one-on-one instruction, working individually or within a group? If appropriate, discuss different teaching and learning methods with teachers, counselors, child development specialists and other educators. Third, research which geography puzzle games incorporate the way your students learn. Fourth, choose puzzle games that are approved by professional educators.
  
  

Educational Value

• Puzzle games need to incorporate educational elements to effectively teach children geography. The six essential elements include the world in spacial terms, places and regions, physical systems, human systems, environment and society and the uses of geography. Visit the National Council on Geographic Education's website to review national geography standards (at ncge.org). Also visit your state's board of education website to review individual state standards.
  
  

Puzzle Games to Teach Kids Geography

• The following are resources that incorporate national geography standards established by professional educators: 1.) National Geographic for Kids (kids.nationalgeographic.com); 2.) Quia: Flashcards, Matching, Concentration and Word Search Puzzles (quia.com); 3.) Scholastic: Puzzled States (scholastic.com);
  
  4.) Sheppard Software: Interactive Geography Puzzle Games (sheppardsoftware.com); 5.) TeacherVision: Make a Map Jigsaw Puzzle (teachervision.com); 6.) Class Helper: Geography Crossword, Word Search, Word Jumble Puzzles (classhelper.org); 7.) Owl and Mouse: Interactive U.S. and World Puzzles (yourchildlearns.com); 8.) JigZone: Geography Travel Puzzles (jigzone.com); *9.) National Geographic Xpeditions (nationalgeographic.com);
  
  *10.) ReadWriteThink: Mail Time! An Integrated Postcard and Geography Study (readwritethink.org) and *11.) GapMinder: Interactive Geographic Data (gapminder.org)
  
  * Resources for creating your own puzzle geography games.