Subjects

• Social Studies—Geography

Grade

• K-2
• 3-5
• 6-8
• 9-12

Brief Description

Map game challenges learners to develop geography skills.

Objectives

Students will

• work cooperatively.
• ask questions to help their group narrow down the location of a “mystery location.”
• play pretty and carefully.

Keywords

geography, world, game

Materials

• a map (or globe) for each group

Lesson Plan

Make a game with geography with this activity. Arrange learners into groups of four. Deliver each group with a globe or a map. (Have learners in each group choose a place on the map.

• If you are exploring your city or town, they may select a specific location within the city or town.
• If you are studying your state, learners might select a town within the state.
• Older learners might select a country on a world map.

After learners have selected a location, start with the first group. That group fields yes or no questions from the other groups, one question at a time. (Group 2 asks a question first, then Group 3 and 4.) The questions may start out general and get more specific. You or a specific game leader monitors the questions asked to ensure they are fair questions. For example, if learners are working with world maps, questions may include:

• Is the place on the continent of Africa?
• Is the place north of the equator?
• Is the place east of Mali?
• Is part of the country located between 10 and 20 degrees South latitude?

If learners are working with a local map, questions may include:

• Is the place on the east side of town?
• Is the place north of Liberty Street?
• Can you see Blue Lake from this place?
• Does the place begin with the letter B?

As subjects are asked, group members refer to their maps and agree on an answer. If they give a “Yes” answer, the group that asked the question can select to make a guess as to the given name of the particular place. If the team guesses right, they earn five points. If the guess is incorrect, the next group asks a question to help identify the location.

After Group 1’s place is guessed, it is Team 2’s turn to answer questions about its selected place; Team 3 begins the questioning.

More Game Suggestions

• When it is a group’s turn to ask a question, 1) learners on each team might work together to develop questions and give responses, or 2) one learner at a time might ask a question. If the latter is the case, learners in each group need to establish a sequence of players within their team, so each player asks one question before any player asks a second question.
• Each group should have some kind of barrier/wall/carrel to get close to their globe without opposing group members seeing which area of the globe they are looking at; that is especially important as questions get specific.

Assessment

The team with the highest points at the end of the game wins