World Globe Games

Children have a natural curiosity about the world around them. By having a globe predominately displayed in your home, a child can check out any country at any time. Your child will often turn to the globe to find places that he or she has heard about. But that's not all a world globe can also be the centerpiece of some fun family activities. A globe can give your child his/her bearings on where things are in this world. It can also provide hours of fun. Play the globe game with a child and you'll have hours of fun. Try playing the following games with your child: The child spins the educational world globe and then with his/her eyes closed drop their pointer finger on one spot on the educational world globe. As the educational world globe spins, say the following chant: Round and round it goes and where it stops nobody knows. The child tells you the country and you guess a city in that country or you can name the continent of that country. Then trade places. You spin the educational world globe, remember to say the chant and let your finger drop on the right spot. Ask your child to answer the questions about where your finger landed on the educational world globe.

Another fun activity is to spin the educational world globe. Drop your finger pointer and then go find out everything you can about the country or state where your finger landed. With the help of the internet and an educational world globe you can discover all about anywhere in the world.

One final, fun game is to name a country and then see how long it takes the child to find that country on the educational world globe. You can also teach the child how to locate a specific site by using the equator and prime meridian. Here are instructions for finding a specific spot in your educational world globe:

Because a globe is round with no beginning or end, there are 2 imaginary reference lines from which all distances and locations are determined; these are the equator and prime meridian.

Equator: Runs East and West around the exact middle of the educational world globe.

Prime Meridian: Imaginary line running from Pole to Pole and passing through Greenwich, England.

Both the equator and the prime meridian intersect at point '0' where all numbering on your educational world globe starts with longitude and latitude lines.

Longitude: Imaginary lines running parallel with the prime meridian through each Pole and numbered in 15ﾰ increments.

Latitude: Imaginary lines running around the globe parallel to the equator at 10ﾰ increments.

Locations are uniquely identified on a educational world globe by the point where the longitude and latitude lines intersect, i.e., Dallas Texas is located 33ﾰNorth (Latitude) 97ﾰ West (Longitude). It's fun to find a spot on the educational world globe and then say it's exact longitude and latitude.