World-Welcoming Holiday Gifts for Kids

Creative Hanukkah, Christmas and Chinese New Year gifts present an opportunity to welcome kids to their world. Although the illustrated, 32-page My First Atlas of the World from National Geographic and a squishy fabric Hugg-A-Planet Globe come as a $42 set for kids 3 and older from The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City (STORE.METMUSEUM.ORG), bookstores also carry child-appropriate atlases, globes and world wall maps separately. The World Wildlife Fund caters to the love kids have for animals that roam over the world. A $50 donation for worldwide conservation efforts comes with a choice of a plush animal from 50 species, from the popular Tiger to a Narwhal. For additional animal-related gift ideas, visit WWFCATALOG.ORG. Adults would have to do a little explaining to show kids how they can help the world with a gift to Heifer International, World Vision or kiva. Using the HEIFER.ORG/CATALOG online, kids and adults would learn how a $10 or $25 donation for an alpaca, goat, sheep, pig, flock of chicks/ducks or water buffalo would help a foreign family. World Vision (worldvisiongifts.org) offers a similar way to provide needy families with livestock, plus medicines, bed nets to prevent malaria. school supplies, soccer balls, fishing kits, fruit trees and clean water. Older computer-savvy students, with only a little adult guidance, could put their own $25 kiva gift card to work online by choosing to make a loan to someone in one of 80 countries. Go to Kiva.org to purchase the gift card a student would use to make a loan. Finally, in what has become a trying year, a child might like to be able to transfer or forget concerns about school, friends and other matters. UNICEF helps children and adolescents in 190 countries and territories with funds from sales of a variety of items, such as a set of six handcrafted worry dolls from Guatemala, who are ready to receive all the concerns kids transfer to them, and a wooden handcrafted 3D Tic Tac Toe set from Thailand, that kids can use to demonstrate their ability to overcome a challenge. The dolls and wooden game are each $29.95 at unicefmarket.org or by calling 800-553-1200.

Holiday Gift List for Modern Kids

Toy companies offer today's children a roster of robots almost from birth. Kids aged five and up can command  Botley the Coding Robot to go around objects and to master an obstacle course. The MindWare company (mindware.com) provides easy-to-follow instructions that enable eight-year-olds to assemble and program robots operated by batteries, solar, hydraulic, or chemical power. Some robots from MindWare use artificial intelligence and infrared sensors. One climbs smooth surfaces using a suction system.

     Rapidly advancing technology makes learning to read more important than ever. The best books to give young children are the ones adults enjoy reading to them over and over again. When my granddaughter was young, my favorite was Click, Clack, Moo Cows that Type by Doreen Cronin. Keith Bellows does more than provide motivation to read about the world. In 100 Places That Can Change Your Child's Live, he describes tantalizing destinations, lists places to eat and stay, and even suggests the most worthwhile souvenirs to bring home.

     A globe is the perfect gift companion to help children locate where they live and to plot a trip around the world. Globes also give kids a sense of distance and a sense of the correct size of continents. From  home, would it take longer to get to the Arctic or to Africa? At the equator, land masses on two-dimensional maps appear accurate in size, but distortion increases away from the North and South poles. Greenland begins to look as large as Africa even though it is thirteen times smaller.

     In a "Peanuts" comic strip, Lucy once broke into a conversation the other kids were having about what gifts they wanted to say she wanted real estate. While a deed to several acres of real estate may be out of the question, giving children government bonds would give them a stake in their countries' futures. If an older child requests a smartphone, couple it with an index card listing three stocks and their trading prices on a day in December. Show him or her a smartphone can be used to keep track of stock prices not only to engage in social chatter.

     Food commercials tempt kids to put down their smartphones and come to the table when there is something good to eat. Why not involve children in baking and cooking their own good eats? Gift them with recipes, pans, pots, and oven mitts to make their favorite cookies or pasta dishes. In the same vein, crafty adults might gift wrap lumber, a tool, and directions for making a picture frame or yarn, knitting needles, and directions for making a scarf.

     Some organizations have found ways to involve children in their causes by matching contributions with rewards. For example, a portion of the price of every gift purchased from the UNICEF Market (unicefmarket.org/catalog) goes to deliver food, vaccines, mosquito nets, and other lifesaving supplies to children around the world. Presents of UNICEF games, puzzles and art materials not only are fun, but they also are a way for children to aid kids suffering in crisis areas. In the World Wildlife Foundation's catalog (wwfcatalog.org), potential donors find a wide variety of gift ideas for kids. One of the most popular World Wildlife programs, symbolic animal adoptions, couples a donation with a child's gift of a soft plush version of an adopted animal, ranging from a familiar elephant to an exotic blue-footed booby.

     Finally, a $25 gift card from kiva.org introduces children to a form of venture capitalism. Using their card, they can choose the country, man or woman, and project they want to support. Computer updates inform them every time part of their loan is repaid. Holiday gifts can show modern kids it is both blessed to receive and to give.

Country Conversation Starters

Some students who go away to college wear the silhouettes of their home states on the front of their
T-shirts. It's a good way to meet and strike up a conversation with other students from the same area. When my daughter was young, I always tried to find shirts with sayings that could encourage adults to strike up a conversation with her so that she wouldn't be shy about interacting with people we knew. Wearing clothing with the silhouette of a country provides a similar opportunity to exchange a few words with others.

      What country might a child wear and how could a country silhouette be put on a shirt, skirt, pant, or cap?

     The country where a child lives, and the countries where the child and/or the child's parents/grandparents were born are obvious choices. Many schools have projects where students research and report on countries around the world. In kindergarten, my daughter wore a white shirt and red skirt and sang "Oh, Canada" in just such a production. She could have worn a map of Canada on her top or skirt. Encouraging children to think about countries they would like to visit could lead to another silhouette choice.

     Find a country map online and enlarge it to the size that would best fit a piece of clothing. You could cut out the country, trace around it on a shirt, etc, and color it in with puffy paints or markets that won't wash off. There's also the method of transferring an image used in the Middle Ages. The picture to be transferred was placed over a surface below, and an outline was made by piercing tiny holes around the picture. If a country map were placed over iron-on material used for patching clothes, pin holes could transfer an outline of the country to the material. Cut around the outline simply use an iron to press the country shape to any piece of clothing, and let the conversation begin.



   

Make Spatial Relationships

When estimating the number of casualties planes flying into the World Trade Center's towers would cause, Osama bin Laden believed burning jet fuel only would weaken the steel above the plane crashes. According to Lawrence Wright's book, The Looming Tower, bin Laden thought higher floors would collapse, but lower ones would remain standing.

    Spatial relationships are important for architects and engineers who design buildings and cars and for dentists who need to know how upper and lower teeth should fit together, but being able to make accurate calculations about spatial relationships is a skill needed by people everywhere in the world. Check how the skill is used in the following examples:

• Knowing where to sit at a sporting event or play so the view isn't obstructed by a pole,
• Figuring how many cars can be parked in a lot,
• Assembling furniture by looking at instructions,
• Visualizing how atoms are arranged in a molecule,
• Deciding how many pans are needed to bake five dozen cookies for a bake sale.

Recent studies suggest ways to help children develop spatial visualization skills. Engineering professor Sheryl A. Sorby recommends playing with blocks, using two-dimension instructions to build with LEGOs, holding objects and sketching them when turned in different positions. She also suggests introducing girls to the toys sold by Goldie Blox (goldieblox.com). Other teachers have had students draw maps, design 3-D treehouses, build robots, knit, play chess, and use 3-D modeling software SketchUp. Theater classes are a natural place to learn blocking, i.e. positioning and spacing actors so that everyone in the audience can see what is happening on stage. Art classes model with clay and learn techniques to create the illusion of space on a two-dimension surface. 

     The connection that seems to exist among spatial reasoning, math skills, creativity, and the arts is reason enough to get kids up and doing things all around the world.

   

Maps Provide a Quick Study of the World

You may have heard about all that it takes to make Nutella. Well, the tenth map in the collection of 40 that the Washington Post published on its website (washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/01/13/40-more-maps-that-explain-the-world/) provides a map that brings all the information together. We can easily see that Nutella needs natural resources, such as sugar, cocoa, nuts, from four continents; manufacturing facilities in eight countries;and a global distribution network. That's just a beginning of how much can be learned quickly from the Washington Post's maps.

     Maps also are the subject of the earlier posts, "You Are Here" and "Map Gazing."

Summer Project: Adopt a Country

Your country could be a big one, like China or Russia, that is always in the news or a small one, like Papua New Guinea, that you didn't know existed. Whatever country you choose, there are resources to help you explore your choice (See some suggested sources of country information in the earlier post, "See the World.") I took my own advice and decided to learn about Malaysia. Unfortunately, I only got as far as looking at a map and deciding Malaysia must have a complicated history, It shares the slim Malay Peninsula with three other countries: Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, and Singapore, and the nearby mountainous Borneo island with Brunei and Indonesia.

     Those who plan to put more effort in learning about a country can begin their project by buying a scrapbook or notebook and labeling pages with titles, such as "Maps," "Government leaders," "Sports," "Key industries," "Agricultural products," and so forth.

     On the first page, "Maps," include a map of your country and a world map with an arrow pointing to it and to your country. (For sources of maps and other information about maps, see the earlier blog post, "You Are Here.") When I had an Atlas out to look for Malaysia, I also decided to see where Iran's secret nuclear facilities probably were located. It was easy to spot the long swath of Zagros Mountains that run along Iran's western border. Eye-in-the-sky satellites could know where to look for activity indicating the construction of new facilities that violated its nuclear agreement with UN Security Council members and the EU.

     Your second page could be labeled, "Flag," Find a colored picture of your country's flag in a World Almanac at the library or elsewhere. Countries put a lot of thought into their flags, because they symbolize a country's important characteristics. Saudi Arabia's flag is almost all green, because the Muslim faith is important to its people and green is the color associated with Mohammed, founder of the Muslim religion. South Africa's flag is much more complicated than Saudi Arabia's. For example, it has red and black for the struggle its population had for freedom and gold for a source of its wealth. (More information about flags is in the earlier blog post, "A Salute to Flags.")

     On a page titled, "Population," list how many people live in your adopted country. How does the size of this population compare to the population of your home country? Is it two times larger or less than a tenth the size of your country? Also include pictures of your country's government leaders and its people. List names of people in your adopted country that may be very different from those of your classmates (Some sources of people and place pictures are listed in the earlier blog posts, "Picture the World" and "Getting to Know You.")

     A page for "Places" is a good one for photos of cities, especially the country's capital. Photos also will show mountains or flat land, snow or beaches, rivers and farms, how people live in cities, and what sports they play. If you know relatives or friends will be visiting your adopted country, remind them to send you postcards to include in your scrapbook.

     Not every country has the same animals that live where you do, so be sure to have a page labeled, "Animals." If you go to a zoo, see if you can find an animal whose native home is your adopted country. The zoo's brochure may have a photo of this animal that you can add to your scrapbook.

     Your interests may lead you to look into your country's music: folk songs and classical composers, current tunes and performers, various instruments.

     What products does your adopted country produce, minerals does it mine, and crops does it grow? Find photos.

     As a student, you will be interested in "Education."Do all children attend the same types of schools? What do they study at what ages? A new book, Playgrounds, shows what recess looks like in some countries (See the earlier blog post, "Recess Differs Around the World.")

     Subjects such as "Food," "Religion," and "Language" could all have separate pages. You may be lucky to find foreign money and stamps from your adopted country, an interesting book about your country, a souvenir from an Olympic or World Cup games held in your country, or a doll dressed in native garb. Recently, when the founder of my granddaughter's 4H club spoke at a meeting, she told how she had 80 dolls from the 80 countries she and her husband had visited.

     The best thing about filling a scrapbook or notebook with information about an adopted country is beginning to think about traveling there some day.

Map Gazing

Before the internet, classrooms often had a set of encyclopedias. One of my fifth grade classmates decided he would read all 15 volumes of the Britannica Jr. that our room had. He started at the end. Not only did the last volume cover subjects that began with "WXYZ," but it also contained an atlas. He started looking at maps and never got any further.

     I was reminded of how interesting he found maps, when I read about a new book, Mapping It Out. One of the maps included in this book is a map of Africa that I used to hang in my classroom. To illustrate the size of Africa, this map fits China, the United States, Europe, India, and Japan inside the continent. This kind of presentation is very useful, since transferring a global world to a flat page distorts the size of countries north and south of the equator (See the earlier post, "You Are Here.").

     Having an Atlas, or a shower curtain with a map printed on it, is especially helpful when countries, islands, cities, mountains, and bodies of water are in the news. Hearing that Narendra Modi from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) became India's Prime Minister sent me to an Atlas, when I heard he was born in Ahmedabad, a coastal city in the western Indian state of Gujarat, south of Pakistan. As host to some World Cup soccer games in 2014, the city of Recife shifted our focus from the Amazon in the west to Brazil's eastern tip on the Atlantic Ocean. When hearing that Stephen Hung ordered $20 million dollars worth of Rolls Royces (30 cars) to transport visitors staying at his Louis XIII resort in Macau, the question arose: Where is Macau? Unfortunately, invasions, such as Russia's into Ukraine, and disasters, such as the downing of Malaysian Flight MH17 and the disappearance of Malaysian Flight 370 and the finding of its wreckage on the island of Reunion (See the earlier post, "Who Needs International Expertise?"), cause us to visit the border of Ukraine and Russia and to contemplate the vastness of the Indian Ocean.

     Children can look at maps to pick out shapes (See the earlier post, "How the World Shapes Up."), to find where people practice different religions (See the earlier post, "Respect the Faith."), to have an international scavenger hunt (See the earlier post, "Games Children Play."), and to study currents, mountain elevations, count time zones, and plan where they want to visit and work (See the earlier posts, "See the World" and "What Do You Want to Be?"). Also, check out Maps4Kids.com, which has a wide variety of activities associated with maps.
 

You Are Here

One of the easiest ways to introduce a child to the world is to hang a map. Just like seeing "You are here" on a map at a mall, amusement park, or subway, helping a child locate his or her home on a world map provides instant orientation on the globe.

     Book stores sell a wide variety of world maps. For example, the DK Eyewitness Travel Guides provide pull-out maps and additional information about 100 worldwide destinations. Free maps also are available at motor clubs and travel agencies. Satellite and aerial maps can be downloaded at earth.google.com and purchased from the U.S. Geological Survey. Since countries are prone to change their names, break up, join together, or adjust their boundaries, outdated maps and old atlases and globes frequently turn up at antique stores, flea markets, and garage sales.

     Not all maps are equal. Selecting a map would be less complicated, if the world were flat. In the process of projecting the global sphere onto a two-dimensional piece of paper, distances and shapes of countries at the nearly 25,000-mile Equator remain relatively unchanged. Toward the North and South Poles, however, flattening causes distortion. The Mercator projection developed by 16th century Flemish geographer, Gerardus Mercator, failed to compensate for distortion at the poles. His map shows Africa almost the same size as Greenland even though Africa is nearly 15 times larger. Using a technique reminiscent of the one employed by Matteo Ricci, a Jesuit missionary in 17th century China, Arthur H. Robinson created his egg-shaped, elliptical map to more accurately reflect the size of the polar regions in relation to the continents. The U.N.'s white on blue symbol overcomes distortion by viewing the world's inhabited continents from the North Pole.

     Children can replicate the way J. Paul Goode reduced distortions on his flat map, if they make one vertical cut on an orange, carefully remove the peel in one piece, and smash the peel flat on a piece of paper. The sections will be irregular, just as Goode's map has irregular sections. Nonetheless, the sections can be reassembled to fit perfectly without distortion on a spherical orange or globe.

     Some atlases, collections of flat maps, are especially designed for children. Mercator was responsible for naming a map collection an Atlas, because his title page showed the mythical Greek giant holding a heavenly globe on his shoulders. For each country in the world, an atlas often includes its political divisions, such as cities and provinces, on one page; its lakes, rivers, mountains, and other geographical features on another; and its agricultural and manufactured products, power plants, oil fields, highways, and railroads on another. The new book, Maps, by Aleksandra and Daniel Mizielinska has great illustrations and geographical features, plus fascinating facts associated with every region of the world. Also check out the site, "Maps4Kids.com.

    Atlases might include a collection of historical maps showing how the world was divided by the Greeks and Romans, during the Crusades, at the time of the American Revolution, after World Wars I and II, and how its political pattern looks today now that African states are independent and new states have been formed out of the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. At timemaps.com, maps are connected to world history in an easy-to-use interactive way. In August, 2013, under "World" at washingtonpost.com/blogs, there was an interesting entry about 40 maps that explain the world. The maps showed expected divisions according to religion and language but there also were unusual maps showing, for example, the best and worst places to be born, where gay rights are legal, and where people are most and least: loved, racially tolerant, and emotional.

     It also is easy to make maps and globes part of a child's every day life. Map motifs appear on umbrellas, shower curtains, balloons, beach balls, coffee mugs, jackets, and Signals' world map bangle bracelet and world map poncho (signals.com). Modern and antique globes are sold as informative and decorative home accessories. Soft globe-shaped pillows sold at many map stores enable children to cozy up to the countries or continents stamped on them, while they can fall asleep using illuminated globes as night lights.

     Maps and globes also are designed as toys. Youngsters who have mastered wooden, magnetic, and floor puzzles of the United States can test their skills on continent and world puzzles as well as three-dimensional puzzle globes that stand by themselves. A giant, 252-piece world map floor puzzle is a best seller at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art (store.metmuseum.org). The Metropolitan Museum, National Geographic, MindWare, and Young Explorers also have interactive globes students can use to find information about country statistics: population, weather, currency, and more. Rand McNally makes an electronic game that explores the world's geography, history, ecosystems, oceans, wildlife, sports, and art. Using the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art's new "Global Glowball" children six months and older can touch one of 39 areas to make the globe light up and play a regional song. A number of board games, such as Atlas Adventures, rely on maps. On a rainy day, it is handy to have on hand blank outline maps (sold at map stores and teacher supply outlets) that children can fill in with the names of countries. Older children can go to geosense.net to test their knowledge of city locations throughout the world.

     On a world map or globe, youngsters can use a star, photo of home, or another symbol to indicate where they live. They also can use a world map as a bulletin board where they tack up their outgrown clothes on the countries that produced them. Kids who follow sports may wish to tape photos of their basketball, baseball, soccer, tennis, and other athletic heroes to the countries where they were born. Maps that include time zones enable children to set clocks to reflect the different times in parts of the world they would like to visit and where their relatives and friends already live or plan to travel.

     Like spelling whizzes, would-be chess masters, musical proteges, and athletic phenoms, children who have grown up interacting with maps and globes are primed to test their knowledge against the competition. Millions in grades four through eight begin their quest to win scholarships in the National Geographic Society's annual Geography Bee by checking the website,
nationalgeographic.com/geographybee. In the end, children require no board games or national competitions to send them looking for geographical answers. Locating on a map what is happening in the news is a daily challenge. Map study provides the foundation for an informed citizen of the world.