Continents Map

I have seen so many Mums manage to make one of these that I thought myself equal to the task.

I discovered that it's much more difficult than I thought.

I used the children's atlas we already have and made tracing paper outlines of each of the continents then cut out the felt...only to realise that they didn't all fit together as they were made to fit each page of the book...not each other.

So then I recut and altered for what felt like hours (I guess it was) then hemmed a large sheet of blue fabric I already had to hold it all in and VOILA!

Before I had even hemmed the mat (as I was laying it out for size) Lamb was getting his animals out asking whether they were from Africa or America and putting them where they belong (Note the lizard in North America which is apparently the horned regal lizard)

I love it how children know instinctively what Montessori materials are for and gravitate to the proper use. They really have been designed with children in mind.