Geography 101

This weekend I discovered that I'm terrible at geography.  For years, I thought that Nicaragua was in Africa.  I thought Serbia was in the Middle East.  I thought Costa Rica was an island.  And I thought the Seychelles were in the Caribbean.  But not anymore.  I have found the most enjoyable way to learn geography: The Leap Tag Interactive World Map.

Okay, I actually purchased the world map for my four year old for Christmas.  Since he's obsessed with maps, I thought an interactive map would be fun.  Unfortunately, I didn't realize that you have to buy the Leap Tag learning pen in order to use the interactive map.  So after Christmas, we tracked down a Leap Tag pen and downloaded the software for the map.  And it has been a blast.

My son now has the ability to point to a country and have the map tell him the name of the country.  He can also point to children on the world map who will greet him in their country's language, tell him about life in their country, and talk about their country's food.  Plus, there's information and sound effects related to famous world landmarks, animals, and regional music.  It's a very educational "toy" for our little guy.

This weekend, Mommy and Daddy discovered the games, and we had lots of fun.  We found one game where the pen gives you names of countries and waits to see if you can correctly point to them on the map in a short time period.  Both Dear Husband and I were only able to find 6 correct countries on our first attempts.  (It is much harder than you'd think!)  I mean, who has ever heard of Bhutan or Tuvalu or Djibouti? 

Dear Husband and I decided that we really ought work on our world geography skills.  So when the kids went to bed the other night, we sat up and raced each other on the game board.  After about an hour, we were both able to correctly identify and locate dozens of countries.  Plus we were able to get 12 countries right during the race against the game clock.  And magically, we both know a lot more about Africa and the Pacific islands.  This map actually works!

So if you need to learn a little more about your world, or if you have a child and want to educate them on something useful that they obviously won't get in school, college, or graduate school, then go for the Leap Tap Interactive World Map.  It won't disappoint--unless you're my son and are aggravated because the map won't show you the location of California.  

It looks like our next toy will be the Interactive U.S. Map!