Sunday, October 19, 2014

Continent Box: Antarctica

At first, some may think that there are not enough things available to create an Antarctica box. Don't let the seemingly sparse items deter you.  Actually there are some unique and fun goodies you could add to your box.

Now granted there are no countries there, but many have staked claims to parts of it. That opens up a great opportunity to learn about those research posts. Maybe having printed cards with pictures of various sites can be added.  Also, you can find a lot about those brave explorers who went there. Maybe you could find stamps with pics of them, or put a small flip book/lapbook in the box highlighting them.

The wildlife is mostly centered around the oceanic critters, but it is also where many of the world's penguin species are found.  Think of all those movies [March of the Penguins comes to mind] that could accompany this study!  So one can add pictures and miniature toy animals to the box. I looked through my Safari Toobs and see there are a few seals and sea lions and even a walrus.  Sadly, not one of those species are found in Antarctica, and I do not want to buy the penguin one (which has a lot of them found there), so I won't have as many critters as I would like. That said, I do want to mention that I have noticed a few folks who have innocently placed polar bears in the Antarctica box. But please do not put them in as they are not found there.  They live in the arctic polar regions of the north and should go in the N. America box, and yes-even in the Europe and Asia ones.  I have seen way too many people add animals when they do not belong there.  OK. There, I feel better.


Contents for the Antarctica Box

*Stamps (Ebay) -I looked for countries that have or have had stations there.  

*Postcards (Ebay) 

*Fire/Rescue patch (Ebay) -I let my son pick which one he wanted.  

*Animal Cards (Target dollar bin area) -see the Australia post for a pic of the card box. I also just laminated a picture from an encyclopedia on the animals found there.

*Antarctica Territories Cards (made myself using Word images and Wikipedia then laminated them and put each area on color coordinating paper to match the control card).

*Landmark cards-just found a couple different ones online, printed and laminated them.

*Animals (Safari Toobs:  Baby Sea Life and Oceans. Purchased at JoAnns using 40-50% off coupons)

*Large Killer Whale-that is an old tub toy we had still.  He has been sitting by the Ocean Box we are working on for his science.  He doesn't go in the box, he just wanted to be included-LOL.

*Antarctica Game (free download from Ellen McHenry's Basement Workshop)  This is too big for the box so it goes in the basket on the top shelf.

**I don't have the Antarctica map printed/laminated yet.  That is for his reference for various mapping activities and such. That will go into the basket on the top shelf.

Additional Ideas for your box:

I have done a lot of Pinteresting and have seen many a posts on continent boxes.  I see some ladies have mentioned a few of the following sites listed below.  I  really don't need these but many of you may.  Keep your eyes open for other neat add ins.  I would love to find a mini-replica of Shackleton's ship or even a model of a scientific center [you know that doesn't cost a fortune and actually exists] to add to our box. Anyway, check out these resources too.

Who's Eating Who? book download (free)  There is also a bunch of other activities/info on that site (which we will visit a lot during our study) **Just keep in mind the cost of either printing this at home or thru an office supply place. It is very colorful!

Montessori Print Shop-Antarctica materials

Antarctica Transportation download

You can purchase Antarctica bank notes (Ebay) too-I believe it is issued by different countries


And there you have our Antarctica box.
















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