When conference goers see the container of continent dice on the Great Extensions table they tend to get really excited! The dice were designed using the Montessori colors for the continents. These 14-sided die have an outline of each of the continents in it’s specific color and then the continent name written in the corresponding color. The die can be used to simply inspire a fetch game of sorts. A child can roll the die, see that Africa has landed on the top, and then go to the map and bring the puzzle piece for Africa back to the rug. Another fun activity that really encourages children to learn the names of the countries and territories on the maps is created when the alphabet die is paired with the continent die. A child would roll both die together. They would see which letter landed on top of the alphabet die and then which continent landed on top of the continent die. For example, the letter /m/ and the continent Africa might be the result of a roll. What the child has to do next is find a country in Africa that begins with /m/. Now, there may or may not be one but what happens is the child eagerly searches the control map looking for a country that begins with /m/. While doing so, they are revisiting all of the countries in their search for the one (or more) that begin with the target letter. For the more advanced child who already knows the names of the countries, they would look over all of the puzzle pieces for the target continent. To take this even further, a child who is able, could create a booklet to go along with this activity by tracing the puzzle piece and labeling the country.
The simple addition of the continent die to the maps can bring about a flurry of interest and activity. What Great Extensions can you think of?

Continent Dice

Find a country in Africa that begins with /m/