Learning Latitude, Longitude and Using a Compass

A few days ago, I shared the hands-on activity we did to learn about the layers of the Earth.  We’ve also been learning about how we show and locate the exact positions of the land and water.

I explained that most maps and globes are marked with lines that help us pinpoint an exact location on the Earth. These lines form an imaginary grid. The equator is just one of these imaginary lines. The others are lines of latitude and longitude.

Lines of latitude are sometimes called parallels. They circle the globe are are parallel to the equator. The lines of longitude run from North to South. They start at the Prime Meridian in Greenwich, England and circle the globe. Longitude lines are also known as Meridians.

Once they knew that basic information, it was time for the real challenge. Using the globe or a map, how close could they come to finding the exact locations of some cities around the world (like Nairobi, Kenya or Denver, Colorado).  The kids found this to be a lot of fun and were VERY excited when their answer was close to the information provided by google!

These pages are part of our Earth Science Packet:

Next, we pulled out a compass and talked about how a compass works and what a compass rose is on a map.  I had the kids each take turns trying to line up North and turn the dial to the direction they wanted to go.

Then they lined the compass point up, picked a spot across the room and placed their card on the wall to show the four cardinal directions.

We haven’t gotten to this yet, but this week we will go outside and make a giant compass rose out on the driveway.

If you are looking for more great geography activities, I highly recommend The Geography Book: Activities for Exploring, Mapping, and Enjoying Your World . (affiliate link) We borrowed it from the library, but it had enough geography and Earth Science activities that I decided to purchase it. It’s really good!

That’s about it for now!  Once again, if you are working on this unit right now and would like to use the printables I showed above, just drop me an email or leave a note over on our Homeschool Den Facebook page. Otherwise, I’ll be sharing the large Earth Science packet in another couple of weeks that includes the pages you see above. 🙂  It’s still a work in progress because we’re still in the middle of all of our activities!

Don’t miss our 150+ page Earth Science Packet!! You will find this packet and more in our Store!

Learn how to make a earthquake shake table, more than a dozen hands-on activities on the layers of the earth, volcanoes, earthquakes, plate movement and more!

Topics include: Solar System, Layers of the Earth, Earth’s Axis and the Seasons, Latitude and Longitude, Plate Tectonics, Earthquakes, Volcanoes, 4 Types of Mountains

Earth Science Packet

Layers of the Atmosphere Packet 

You will find this packet and more in our Store!

You might also be interested in these related posts: 

• Learning about the Solar System – Including the hands-on kit the kids loved assembling and painting.
• Earth Science: Timeline of Earth Activity – A Montessori activity that is meant to impress kids with the enormity of time on Earth.
• Earth Science: Layers of the Earth hands-on Activity
• Earth’s Geologic Timeline – How scientists divide Earth’s history into eons and eras
• Learning about Latitude and Longitude, Using a Compass
• Earth Science: Plate Movement Hands-On Activities
• Earth Science: Layers of the Atmosphere
• Earth Science: Layers of the Earth Hands-On Activity
• Earth Science: Plate Movements, Pangea
• Plate Movement and Earthquakes
• Earth Science: Plate Movements and Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Mountain Making
• Earth Science: How Fold Mountains are Formed
• Topographic Maps
• World Biomes Pin Map
• Preschool Geography and More Preschool Geography Activities

Disclosure:  Please note that some of the book links above are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase.

See you again soon here or over at our Homeschool Den Facebook Page! Don’t forget to Subscribe to our Homeschool Den Newsletter. 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. ~Liesl

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Happy Homeschooling!

~Liesl