Teaching the 5 themes of geography can be a whole lot of fun! 

The 5 Themes of Geography are: 

• Location (relative or absolute)

• Place

• Movement

• Human/Environment Interaction (I’ll reference as HEI)

• Region

Depending on how much time you have to spend teaching this topic, the activities and project ideas are endless! The beauty of the 5 themes of geography is that these themes will naturally show up in so many of your social studies standards! You can reference these throughout the year while you’re teaching history (HEI, movement), economics (movement, HEI, region), and geography of course. 

First, you’ll have to introduce the 5 themes, so students have an understanding before going off on their own for these fun projects. I recommend either a presentation or a nonfiction reading activity to introduce it. 

Once the introduction is out of the way, now it’s time for the fun stuff! You can split each of the 5 themes into separate projects and activities, or you can choose projects that cover all 5 at once. Of course, you can also do some of each! It’s all up to you and how much time you have! 

Here are some ideas if you’re splitting the themes up, but remember, you can mix and match! 

Place (physical and human characteristics of an area)

• Postcards: students can write postcards from their “visit” to a particular place, or students can read postcards you’ve prewritten to determine the place. 

• Weather Report: students can write a weather report for different times of the year for a particular place, or students can read weather reports you’ve prewritten to determine the place. 

• Travel List: students can create a list of clothes and items they’d take with them if they were traveling to a particular place, or students can read travel lists you’ve prewritten to determine the place. 

• Research: students could research climate (temperature and precipitation), physical features (mountains, rivers, deserts), nationalities/languages,  and describe the size and shape of a particular place

Location (precise position on Earth’s surface) 

• Find the absolute location of a list of sports teams (their cities)

• Find the absolute location of a list of state capitals

• Find the absolute location of relevant places (if you later cover Brazil, Mexico, and Panama, have students find absolute locations of their capitals) 

Human/Environment Interaction (HEI) (relationship between humans and their environment)

• “Then and Now”: Compare two photos of one place to compare how the area is different (are there less trees and more buildings?) 

• Current Event Analysis: students will analyze a current event, including how it is affecting the area and the neighboring countries

• Analyze Resource Maps: How do people use the land here? (farming, mining, etc.)

• Analyze population distribution maps: Where do most people live? (near a water source, near mountains, etc.)

Movement (people and the Earth moving in and out of an area)

• Analyze the push and pull factors for immigration

  • 5th Grade Georgia Social Studies - channel your SS5H1d spirits! 

  • Immigration to the U.S. in the early 1900s 

  • 6th and 7th Grade Georgia Social Studies - channel your Europe Partitioning standards and the Columbian Exchange

• Analyze export/import maps or statistics

• Analyze the labels: students can record the “Made in ….” labels and discuss how it relates to the “movement” theme of geography

Regions (certain parts of the Earth with unifying characteristics) 

• Map of regions of Georgia: label and describe the unifying characteristics

• Map of regions of the United States: label and describe the unifying characteristics

• Map of regions of the world: label and describe the unifying characteristics

Combining all 5 Themes

• Sort and Categorize: students can categorize scenarios or statements into each theme

  • This can be a variety of things: cut/paste, worksheets, half-page texts, questions,  etc. 

• Postcards: students will make 5 different postcards, one to demonstrate each theme

  • Alternate with Groups: each group has an assigned place; each member makes a postcard to demonstrate his or her assigned theme;

  • Alternate with Groups: each group has an assigned theme; each member makes a postcard to demonstrate the theme in his or her assigned place

  • Here’s a template you can use to create a postcard: https://pixabay.com/vectors/postcard-post-office-letter-e-mail-560719/

Questions for each theme

Place: 

• What is the climate? Temperature? Rainfall?

• What are the physical features (mountains, rivers, deserts, landforms)?

• Who lives there (nationalities, language)?

Location: 

• Where is its absolute location (latitude/longitude)?

• Where is its relative location?

• How far is it from home (in km or miles)?

• What neighbors?

Human/Environment Interactions:

• How do people use the land (farming, mining, etc.)?

• Have people changed the land?

• How has the place changed over the past 10 years/50 years/100 years?

• Where do most people live? Why?

Movement: 

• How will you travel there from your home?

• Why would people move there? What are the pull factors?

• What does the nation export? To Where?

• What does the nation import? To Where?

Region: 

• What are the unifying characteristics that sets this region apart from its neighbors?

• What is the language? Is it different from its neighbors?

• Are there political boundaries (states)?

For teaching the 5 Themes of Geography, just imagine curating all of your favorite geography lessons and giving students a taste of each of them! You can pick back up later when you normally teach it - they probably won’t remember if it’s the same ;)