Montessori-Inspired Continent Activities Using Replicas – Africa

I’ve had lots of fun lately with Little Passports and with Safari Ltd. replicas. They both can add lots of interest to the study of geography. Today, I’m sharing some ideas for using Safari Ltd. replicas for the study of Africa.

Disclosure: Safari Ltd. gave me the TOOBS used to prepare these activities. This post contains affiliate links (at no cost to you). My opinions are honest and my own.

For this post, I used the Safari Ltd. Wild TOOB, Monkeys and Apes TOOB, African Village TOOB, and Ancient Egypt TOOB. If you’re planning a world study, you’ll find it helpful to have a variety of TOOBS available. For the study of Africa (or for any continent), there’s more than one way to approach the choice of animals used.

In my Montessori-Inspired Little Passports Activities – Egypt, you’ll find activities using the World Landmarks TOOB and Around the World TOOB. Those landmarks are also in the Ancient Egypt TOOB.

The activities in this post work well with a Montessori Africa continent box. (Note: I made the background of the collage green because of the green Africa on the Montessori world map.) These activities could also be used for a study of Africa before (and after) the Little Passports Egypt package arrives.

Printable Keys: Thanks to Kateva from Safari Ltd. for the educational keys for the TOOBS! These are very useful not only for simple matching activities, but also as a way for you to keep your TOOBS organized and for older children to use as keys for research or for organizing the replicas in the proper TOOB. If you click on each link, you can save and print out the educational key for each TOOB. Here are the keys for the TOOBS used in this post: Wild TOOB Key, Monkeys and Apes TOOB Key, African Village TOOB Key, and Ancient Egypt TOOB Key.

Animals of Africa Activity

Animals of Africa Tray

A simple activity would be to have a tray with the animals you choose and a map of Africa. You can download and print out a free satellite map of Africa from Wikimedia Commons.

I used the camel, lion, giraffe, elephant, rhinoceros, and zebra from the Wild TOOB and the mandrill from the Monkeys and Apes TOOB. I placed the map on an inexpensive wooden tray from the hobby store and used a clear acrylic tray from Montessori Services to organize the animals.

Animals on Satellite Map of Africa

A young preschooler could just learn the names of the animals and arrange them on the Africa map however he or she chooses. I would probably introduce the animals by naming each one as I placed them in their appropriate place on the map.

Young preschoolers could place the animals on the map without focusing on their exact location. Even if the animals aren’t in the place where they would live in Africa, it’s still a good hands-on activity for identifying the names of animals and the shape of Africa. For older preschoolers, you could mention facts as you place them, such as that camels live in the desert in Egypt.

Africa Maze Activity

Africa Maze Tray

For this activity, I used a free Africa maze from Imagine Our Life. The basic maze is pictured here, although there’s a more advanced version. Your child or students could use this as an activity for drawing the path with an erasable marker on laminated cardstock or with a pencil on a printed paper.

Africa Maze Activity

If you have the Safari Ltd. Zoo Babies TOOB, your child could have a fun fine-motor and thinking-skills activity moving the baby elephant through the maze to find its mother.

African Village Matching Using Safari Ltd. TOOB Key

African Village Matching Using Safari Ltd TOOB Key

In the pictured activity, I used the African Village TOOB and TOOB key. This activity is extremely easy to prepare. I just printed out and laminated the page. Although not pictured, I added the page and the matching African village replicas to an inexpensive wooden tray from a hobby store. Again, I used a small acrylic tray from Montessori Services to help organize the tray and give a fine motor activity for young children of standing the replicas on the tray.

This is a great activity for young children. It can include directionality skills if the child tries to match the direction the replica is facing. This is also a wonderful language activity if you go over the names of the replicas with your child or students.

Ancient Egypt Matching Using Safari Ltd. TOOB Key

Ancient Egypt Maching Using Safari Ltd. TOOB Key

This is a similar activity to the African Village matching activity.

 Egypt Sensory Tub Dig Using Replicas

Egypt Sensory Tub Dig with Egypt Figures

The layout is on a Montessori Services work rug. Similar to the sensory tub dig in my Montessori-Inspired Little Passports Activities – Egypt, this uses a free printable from the Egypt Pack for tots through grade 1 by 3 Dinosaurs along with a shoebox-size sensory tub from the Dollar Tree, sand, and tools. I included the replicas from the Ancient Egypt TOOB to add 3-dimensional elements.

If you aren’t already, be sure to follow the continent series at Imagine Our Life for additional continent ideas and free printables. Also, check out Montessori Print Shop’s continent series for lots of helpful extensions for any continent box or study of continents.

Learn more about my eBook Montessori at Home or School: How to. Teach Grace and Courtesy!

If this is your first time visiting Living Montessori Now, welcome! If you haven’t already, please join us on our Living Montessori Now Facebook page where you’ll find a Free Printable of the Day and lots of inspiration and ideas for parenting and teaching! And please follow me on Instagram, Pinterest (lots of Montessori-, holiday-, and theme-related boards), and YouTube. While you’re here, please check out the Living Montessori Now shop.

And don’t forget one of the best ways to follow me by signing up for my weekly newsletter. You’ll receive some awesome freebies in the process!