Latitude and Longitude Worksheets and Activities

In this post, I thought I’d share some of the activities my daughter did as she learned about latitude & longitude, the Prime Meridian and other geography terms.

My daughter is doing a unit on oceans and we’re talking about ocean navigation at the moment. I wanted to be sure to slip in this information about latitude, longitude, the prime meridian and so forth  (even though we covered it in our Earth Science Unit, she needed a refresher!). 🙂

What is latitude - Longitude What is the Prime Meridian Tropic of Cancer Tropic of CapricornWhat is latitude and longitude? Latitude and longitude are imaginary lines that help people find the exact location of a place. These can be drawn on a globe or on a flat map.

Latitude lines tell how far north or south a place is located from the equator (which is 0° latitude).

Similarly, longitude lines show how far east or west some place is from the Prime Meridian (which is 0° longitude).

As you can see above, she did a couple of worksheets that introduced some basic geography terms like latitude, longitude, Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn, and Earth’s axis.

We then pulled out our old family globe.   We started with latitude. Of course, ED knew where the equator was immediately. Then she looked at the lines of latitude. I’d ask here to find a city and she’d try to figure out the latitude.

I pointed out that there were numbers along the bar that surrounds our globe (see the picture below). Those measure of the lines of latitude in even more detail than the lines on the globe.  I also pointed out that (some of) those same lines/numbers were written on the globe itself.  We also talked about the northern and southern hemisphere.Finding Latitude and Longitude on the Globe - for kidsWe then talked about the longitude lines.  She found the Prime Meridian (which runs through Greenwich, England) and we talked about how that line also divides the world in half… into the western and eastern hemispheres.  Again, we looked at the numbers on the globe. We talked about how longitude tells you how far east or west you’ve gone away from the Prime Meridian.

Once my daughter knew what latitude and longitude lines were, she was ready to start plotting out some locations!  She did a couple of different activities over the course of a few days… first she was given city names and had to figure out the latitude and longitude.  (I’d then tell her what the actual answer was. As time went on, she was determined to figure out the EXACT numbers!!)

For another activity, she was give the latitude and longitude numbers and she had to find the city.

Latitude - Longitude Activities and Worksheets

The Latitude and Longitude Worksheets and Activities are included in our Earth Science Unit.  I have also just added this to our Ocean Unit. If you have either of these units, be sure to check your PayPal email address for the update email from SendOwl (the delivery service I use).

Earth Science Unit

Earth Science Packet: We originally covered this material after we talked about the layers of the earth.  We talked about latitude & longitude and also talked about finding directions with a compass. From there we went on to talk about plate tectonics, convection currents, continental drift, Pangaea, plate boundaries, earthquakes, faults and so forth. You can find out more about this unit here: Earth Science Unit

$9.99 Earth Science Unit (175+ pages) – Quick Preview or Visit Post for more details.  See Earth Science BUNDLE options in Our Store.

Be sure to check your PayPal email address for the download link.

Earth Science Unit

This latitude-longitude material is also included in our Ocean Unit.

$8.99 Ocean Packet (We started the Ocean Unit with a discussion of marine habitats, coral reefs, and so forth. We then moved on to the features of the ocean floor. We did a really fun, hands-on activity that I’ll talk about in the next day or so!  Now we’re talking about ocean navigation, so we talked about latitude & longitude (and how sailors determined their location without modern technology).

The Ocean Unit is available in our  Biology BUNDLE. Visit this page for more details.

Be sure to check your PayPal email address for the download link.

Ocean Unit - Marine Habitats Coral Reefs Tide Pools Tides Currents Ocean Zones Bioluminescence Worksheets and moreMarine Habitats:

Marine-Habitat-Worksheets-CardsCoral Reefs:

Corals and Coral Reefs Worksheets - Notebook Pages and Lapbook Activity Coral Reef Notebook Pages - WorksheetsTide Pools:

Tide Pools WorksheetsWater Form Words:

Ocean Unit - Water Form Words WorksheetFeatures of the Ocean Floor (and activity ideas):

Features-of-the-Ocean-Floor-WorksheetsFeatures of the Ocean Floor WorksheetsEarly Navigation: (and activity ideas)

Early-Navigation-WorksheetsSONAR:

SONAR-notebook-pagesSalinity: Ocean-Unit-Salinity-Activities

Ocean Tides and Currents (and activity ideas):Ocean Unit - what causes tidesSpring-and-Neap-TidesOcean Life:  Special Body Features, Body Shape and MovementFish-Body-Shape-Features-WorksheetsBioluminescence:Bioluminescence-WorksheetsLayers-of-the-Ocean-ActivitiesMore details about the Ocean Unit can be found here: Ocean Unit.

Visit the Biology BUNDLE page for more details and lots more pictures of the units mentioned above!

Biology BUNDLE - Biology Unit Cell Unit Scientific Classification and Taxonomy Unit Botany Unit Pathogens Unit Ocean Unit

Biology BUNDLE of 3 - Biology - Taxonomy - Ocean Unit

Biology BUNDLE of Six - Cells Botany Classification Taxonomy Ocean Pathogens

Don’t forget to check your PayPal email address for the download link.See you again soon here or over at our Homeschool Den Facebook Page! You might also want to check out some of our resources pages above (such as our Science, Language Arts, or History Units Resource Pages) which have links to dozens of posts.  You might want to join our free Homeschool Den Chat Facebook group.  Don’t forget to check out Our Store as well. :) Homeschool Den Store

Again, if you are interested in joining our Homeschool Den Newsletter, feel free to subscribe here. The Welcome Series includes 5 packed emails… with tips on homeschooling, keeping motivated, finding various resources and freebies tucked away on the blog and more!

Plus, you’ll be the first to hear about new packets (generally offered at a discount when they are first released), seasonal resources and more!

SubscribeIt’s a great way to hear about our latest packets and to learn about many of the hundreds of printables & other materials we have tucked away on the blog!

Happy Homeschooling!! 

~Liesl

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *