Continents and Oceans Map Lesson for Young Learners

About this resource

What's inside this resource

A fifty-slide geography presentation walks young students through the seven continents and world oceans, opening with a 'Continents Song' set to the tune of Frère Jacques that pairs each continent with a hand or body motion (North America to the left hand, Antarctica to the feet, and so on). Continent-by-continent stops cover North America (including a discussion of the students' home state and a Mexican sombrero craft), South America's Amazon Rainforest, Europe's Eiffel Tower, China's lantern festival, Africa's Nile River, Sahara Desert, and Swahili language, and Australia's kangaroos, interspersed with cardinal-direction and map-reading segments. The deck repeatedly points teachers to external BrainPop Jr. and YouTube videos (continent songs, cardinal-direction songs, map read-alouds) to supplement each topic rather than embedding that content directly. Several prompts assume a Florida classroom specifically, asking students 'which state do we live in?' and answering 'FLORIDA.' For hands-on practice with those cardinal-direction segments rather than an external video, a cardinal directions and compass rose guide applies the same directions to real US and Canada maps.

In the classroom

Teaching tips & learning objectives

Learning objectives

Name and recall the seven continents in order using the repeated 'Continents Song.'
Identify the major oceans and use cardinal directions (north, south, east, west) on a map.
State one or more facts about each continent (e.g., the Nile River in Africa, the Eiffel Tower in Europe, kangaroos in Australia).

Teaching tips

Preview the linked BrainPop Jr. and YouTube videos before class, since the deck references them by URL rather than embedding the content.
Substitute your own state's name into the 'which state do we live in?' slide if teaching outside Florida, since that slide currently answers 'FLORIDA.'
Use the repeated Continents Song (with hand/body motions) as a quick review transition between continent sections.

Skills covered

Continent recall — students sing a motion-based song naming all seven continents in sequence.
Map and direction reading — students identify the four cardinal directions using the mnemonic 'Never Eat Soggy Waffles.'
Geographic fact recall — students state details about specific continents, such as the Nile River, the Eiffel Tower, or Swahili as an African language.

Good to know

Questions teachers ask about this resource

One slide asks 'which state do we live in?' and answers 'FLORIDA' — is the deck written specifically for Florida classrooms?

Yes, at least that one slide assumes a Florida classroom; teachers elsewhere would need to swap in their own state's name for that section.

The deck references several YouTube and BrainPop Jr. videos by link rather than embedding them — do these need to be queued up separately before class?

Yes, the videos are external links (e.g., BrainPop Jr. continents/maps pages, YouTube cardinal-direction and continent songs) that must be opened separately since they are not embedded in the slides.