Homeschool Geography with Stamp Collecting for Kids - A Simple Unit Study

Summary: This is a simple unit study you can do with your kids for homeschooling geography and more. Are you looking for some fun ways to teach geography to your kids?  Have you ever thought of doing stamp collecting with your kids?  

Today, I'd like to share with you a simple and fun stamp activity and how we added in just a touch of geography and writing along the way. 

A FUN UNIT STUDY

- STAMP COLLECTING -

First let's start with some frugal and free resources for stamp collecting. 

1.  Resources and How To's

Where to get stamps:

-Watch the mail, ask relatives to collect them, or even ask at homeschool groups for families to save them for you.

-Get a penpal for your child, and ask them to collect stamps for you.

-Resources for free stamps: 

The International Society for World Wide Stamp Collectors  has a program where they offer free stamps for kids up to age 17.  Send requests, along with your stamped self address envelope, asking for free stamps to:

ISWSC Internet Offer
Richard Rizzo (#2215)
18300 Winter Park Ct
Gaithersburg, MD 20879-4626 - USA
E-mail:poly76ce@gmail.com

- Get a stamp catalog for free at the Mystic Stamp Company.  Get Free Album Pages,from the Philatelic Society here, such as "A Stamp for Every Country", from the Smithsonian National Postal Museum and 100's more!


To store your collection, you could use a shoebox, drawer, or a notebook.  

We just used a notebook.  Then we got some heavy writing paper from the drug store, but you could get official stamp paper, if you want from the American Philatelic Society - for kids.

To preserve the stamps, just take the stamps off the paper by laying them in a shallow dish of water for a while and then peeling them of with tweezers. 

Then, to put them onto the pages, we just used glue, and that worked for us.  Or put them in the little envelopes on the official stamp pages, available from the American Philatelic Society - for kids. 

Next, we had fun doing some geography.

2.  Geography Stamp Activities 

Here's some of the simple things that we have done for stamp geography:

• Look up where the stamps come from.  
• Learn more about those places,  mark the places they came from on the map.  
• Find them on a globe.  
• Get a stamp from a foreign country, look up a recipe from that country, and have a stamp/collecting geography supper.  

My daughter collected stamps from the US and from foreign countries, but especially from China, as that was her birth country. 

Then we spent a little time writing about stamps.

3. Stamp Writing Activities

Here's some simple "stamp writing" ideas:

• Make a journal, out of a simple paper tablet.  
• Write a bit about any new stamps.  
• If your kiddos are just learning to write, they could color, then copy a few words into their journal about their stamp. 
• Record the country or state that the stamp came from.  
• For older kids, they might write a paragraph about the stamp's origin, or country, and still make time to color or draw a picture.

Finally, I'd like to share the benefits your kids can get from doing this activity....

4.  The Benefits of Stamp Collecting

Stamp Collecting can give your kids practice in the following skills: 

•  Organizational skills
• Direction following practice
• Visual perceptual skills
• Attention to detail 
• Concentration skills

And these are executive functioning skills.

The best part about it, is that your kids will be learning executive functioning skills, while busy having fun with their stamp collections.

I was recently asked to write for the top special education site on this topic.  I invite you to click 8 Tips for Homeschooling a Twice Exceptional Student for more ideas and encouragement.

What would you add to this list?   I love reading your comments.

Thanks for stopping by BJ's Homeschool,

Betsy

Betsy is retired O.T, homeschool blogger, and most importantly is mom to her 2e college grad, whom she homeschooled through high school.  She blogs at BJ's Homeschool, about the early years, high school, college and 2e.  

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