Component 4: Geography

By the following age ranges, children typically, for example:

Notice their surroundings and develop basic spatial awareness (e.g., respond to sound stimuli by looking in that direction; look underneath a cup)

Crawl or scoot to explore objects of interest
Explore different landscapes in their immediate environment (e.g., crawl up a small hill)

Use spatial cues to find or describe the location of objects (e.g., “behind the bookshelf,” “on top of the table”)
Recognize familiar locations (e.g., shows anticipation when approaching home, or school)
Explore physical characteristics of land through play (e.g., picking up pinecones, climbing rocks, riding a balance bike down a hill)

Follow directions to find and retrieve an object in specific locations
Point out familiar locations within the neighborhood (e.g., point to school when driving past the building)
Recognize basic physical characteristics (e.g., landmarks, land features)

Use spatial terms to communicate with increasing specificity about the location of objects and familiar locations (e.g., far/close, over/under)
Identify landmarks or places through their logos and signs (e.g., familiar stores, churches, restaurants)
Create art that contains realistic elements (e.g., pointing to one of their drawings and saying, “This is our house.”)
Show recognition and/ or interest in some geographic tools and resources such as maps, globes, or GPS.

Create simple maps of familiar locations and talk about the things that are in certain areas (e.g., a bed or a closet in the bedroom)
Name own street, town and/or neighborhood
Create representations of different landforms and landmarks during play (e.g., using sand to make a mountain; creating a tunnel with blocks that represent the tunnel on the way to school)
Use geographic tools to identify landmarks in a specific location (e.g., use a globe to look for a pretend location during play)

Social Studies