Our Continent Bags - North America

As promised, I'll be sharing all seven of our Continent Bags over the next several weeks. In Montessori, when you begin introducing continents to a child you always start with the continent you live in. So, first up, is North America...

I should point that not all of these things will be available in the bag at the same time - I'll rotate things in and out so as to keep the bag new and interesting.

Here's what's inside:
Books, maps, and cards. A North America True Book (I have one of these for each continent - they're great!), some landmark cards, a North America fact sheet, and two maps - one is pre-colored and laminated and the other is blank and ready for James to color. One annoying thing about maps of North America is that they often omit Bermuda. A good Atlas will show it, but in general I find I have to add a little dot to the map and mark it.

Various stickers and a Bermuda flag patch. I have a huge sticker collection from my scrapbooking days. You can find state and country stickers like these in the scrapbook section of any major craft store or you can buy online here.

Miscellaneous souvenirs. I collected these things during my travels over the years. Most are from the United States, but some of the small pins are from Canada and Bermuda, the little shoes are from the Dominican Republic, the woven mat is from Belize, the necklace is from Mexico and the small tiki pendant is from Honduras.

Music and artwork. I'm really excited about the artwork as I put a lot of time and effort in hunting down just the right portraits. I created a collection for each continent and my criteria was that the artwork needed to represent the region by showing either people, animals or landscape. I also preferred for the artwork to have been created by an artist native to that region. As for the music, the first CD, Matriarch, is performed by a Native American and it's just lovely. There's also some Bob Marley to represent the Caribbean (Jamaica specifically).
I ordered this Putumayo Kids CD, which my niece is bringing with her when she visits later this week. I love Putumayo's music collections and I'm looking forward to hearing this one - it received great reviews.

The red dirt in the baggie is from The Grand Canyon (Arizona, USA), the rocks are from The Rocky Mountains (Colorado, USA) and the dreamcatcher is a representation of Native Americans.

Rubber stamps, maps, brochures, and lots of postcards. This is very small taste of my North American postcard collection. Some of these are from the postcard swap we participated in earlier this year, some are from my travels, and quite a few are from my childhood collection. I started collecting postcards when I was 8 years old. Whenever a friend or family member traveled anywhere they'd always send or bring me back a postcard or two. I unintentionally (but thankfully!) brought my entire collection with me to Bermuda. It's a real treat to now share these cards with James.

Spoons. Another collection of mine. I pick one up from wherever I travel to. Yes, I know collecting spoons is a little "old lady-ish" :), but what can I say? Again, this is just a small selection from a much larger set. I pulled out a variety that I felt represented North America as a whole. I have quite a few from the US, which we'll use when the comes time for us to focus on just America.

Three part cards and pictures. You can read more about my pouches here. After much deliberation, I bit the bullet and purchased the entire continent kit from Montessori For Everyone. I am SO glad I did - not only is the kit absolutely wonderful, it saved me loads of time in hunting for the photos and information on my own, not to mention the time it would have taken for me to design and format everything. It did, however, take me a long time to print and cut everything (thanks, hubby, for helping me!), but now that it's all said and done I can say the kit was, without a doubt, well worth the time and money. The quality can't be beat - I highly recommend it.

Animals. I just love that big moose. :) Safari Ltd. makes some really awesome Toob collections that are great for continent boxes.

Money and stamps. One thing I didn't bring to Bermuda with me was my foreign currency collection (yes, another collection!). I am SO bummed about not having this because it would be perfect for our continent bags. For some reason, though, I did find some Canadian money in our house! I'll be adding some Bermudian and US money to the bag at some point. I also plan on printing out some fake currency from other North American countries. I'm not sure where those extra large US bills came from - I've had them for ages. Some of the stamps are real, others are images I found on Google.

Some day, we'll be focusing on just the United States and when we do I'll have plenty for that bag. (I plan on making a bag for Bermuda, too.) The Which Way USA book and map are a part of a monthly subscription I receive - these are GREAT. The tags are from my scrapbooking days.

I can't wait to see this Kids Around the World cookbook in person - my niece is bringing this down for us, too. I thought it would be such fun to have the opportunity to "taste" a continent. James loves to help me cook and I think he'll really get a kick out of this. In addition to this book, I have some authentic recipes - dishes that are specific to the region - for the US and Bermuda. If any of you have an authentic and kid-friendly recipe (meaning it's not too complicated to prepare) that you'd like to share, please email me at countingcoconuts1(at)gmail(dot)com. Thanks!

Flags. I couldn't afford to purchase flags for every country, so I tried to choose a flag that represented each of the major areas within North America. I chose Bermuda (of course!) for the Caribbean (even though we're not technically located in the Caribbean) and Cuba for Central America. I just realized I should have gotten one for Mexico... oops! The MFE continent kit came with 3-part card sets of flags for each continent, but I'm too lazy to print them waiting to print them until James is a bit older. ;)

I hope you've enjoyed this photo tour of our North America Continent Bag! You might also enjoy these other posts from my Continent Bag Series:
Our Continent Bags
Our Continent Bags - Storage
Our Continent Bags - Asia
Our Continent Bags - Antarctica
Our Continent Bags - Europe
Our Continent Bags - Africa
Our Continent Bags - South America
Our Continent Bags - Australia

Also check out my Continent Bags photo album on the Counting Coconuts Facebook page.

Here are a few links to some awesome blogs where you'll find even more continent box ideas and photos:
Sunrise Learning Lab
Montessori Tidbits
Child and Me
LaPaz Home Learning
If you've blogged about your continent box, feel free to add your link the comments section.

I'm linking this post up to The Preschool Corner and Montessori Monday.

~Thank you for your comments!~