World Cup Geography + FREE Printables!

As a homeschooler I know that so much learning can occur anytime, anywhere and that includes watching football on TV. When we get these big, global events, such as the Olympics or the football World Cup, I know that they can offer amazing opportunities for my children to learn. 

The main thing the World Cup encourages my children to learn about, other than football, is geography. With 32 countries taking part, that's a lot of learning! We have been watching the football in the evenings and learning as we go. This is what we have been doing.

Country Flags

We started off by painting the flags for each of the 32 countries taking part in the World Cup. I cut some A4 paper into 4 pieces and the children used watercolour paints to create the flags of each of the 32 countries. Once they were done, we stuck all 32 flags onto the wall. Each time a country gets defeated, they will take that flag off the wall. This will be a great way for them to keep track of which countries are still participating.

Country printables

Each time the children watch one of the matches, I encourage them to fill out one of these Geography worksheets. The children colour in the flag and then fill in the sheets with information about each country. These have been a brilliant way to learn some facts about different countries. Now that the children have filled in a few of these printables, they are starting to make comparisons between the countries. We also look up the locations of each countries on the map.

At the end of the world cup I will put these into a folder.

Passports

I created some paper passports for my children by photocopying the cover of one of our passports. Then I cut up more paper for the pages inside. Each time the children complete one of the country printables, they can write the country and date inside the passport and then stamp it. They love stamping things so this is good motivation to complete the printables!

Continents

While learning about each country, I've also introduced the children to the different continents of the world. Each time the children fill out one of the country printables, we look at its location on the map and discuss which continent it is in. Here are some great continent fact file printables that are free to download!

Games

Here are links to some geography games I found online. Everything is more fun when it is turned into a game!

Continent challenge printables

Continent fortune teller

Flag bingo

World geography scavenger hunt printables

7 continents game

Have you been learning geography through the World Cup? What have you been learning?

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