The two globes
The Sandpaper Globe. A globe on which the continents are textured with sandpaper and the oceans are smooth-painted. Typically the continents are all the same colour (often a natural brown or beige) so the distinguishing feature is texture. The child runs a hand over the globe and feels the continents as rough patches against the smooth ocean.
The direct aim is the tactile experience of "land" and "sea" as different things. A three-year-old sees a globe and often does not know which is which; the sandpaper globe makes it physically clear.
The Continent Globe. A globe on which each continent is painted a distinct colour: Africa green, Europe red, Asia yellow, North America orange, South America pink, Antarctica white, Oceania brown. The colours are standardised across Montessori geography materials; the child will meet the same colour for each continent on every map.
The child's work is to recognise each continent by shape and colour and eventually by name. Three-period lesson applies: introduce three at a time, associate, recall.
Both globes together cost £40-80. The Continent Globe is the more useful of the two if budget is tight; the Sandpaper Globe is a complementary material best introduced first for a younger child.
Puzzle maps
A family of wooden puzzle maps, each continent its own puzzle.
The World Map Puzzle. A flat wooden tray with seven continents as removable pieces, each colour-matched to the Continent Globe. The child takes the pieces out, places them on a mat or returns them to the tray. The simplest puzzle map; often the first the child meets.
The Continent Puzzle Maps. Six puzzles (one per inhabited continent), each showing the countries of that continent as removable pieces. The Africa puzzle has pieces for Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, etc. The Europe puzzle has pieces for France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the UK, etc. Each country piece is coloured within the continent's standardised colour family.
The child works with one continent at a time. They empty the pieces onto a mat, place them back into the tray in correct positions. They learn the shapes of countries by feel and by matching. Eventually they learn the names through three-period lessons and nomenclature cards.
Country-level puzzles. Less universal; some Montessori suppliers make puzzle maps of specific countries (puzzle map of the UK with its four nations; puzzle map of the USA with its states; puzzle map of France with its regions). These are an extension rather than a core material.
A full set of world + six continent puzzle maps costs £200-350 new in the UK. Second-hand individual puzzles are often £20-40. A common home strategy is to buy the World Map Puzzle first (£40-60) and then add continent puzzle maps for whichever continents are of current interest; a full set can be accumulated over a year or two.
The Land and Water Form Trays
A set of small flat trays, each about 15cm × 20cm, moulded to represent a specific geographical feature. Traditionally there are pairs (one feature and its complement): bay and cape, lake and island, strait and isthmus, peninsula and gulf, archipelago and chain of lakes, system of lakes and system of islands.
The child pours water into the trays to see the land and water features in physical form. A "bay" is a tray where water curves into the land; a "cape" is a tray where land extends into the water. The child sees the two shapes as complementary; they are literally the same physical form with land and water swapped.
This is one of the more distinctive Montessori geography materials. Commercial sets are £80-150; the trays can be DIYed with oven-bake clay (Fimo or similar) for about £20 in materials and an afternoon. The DIY versions work fine if the clay is shaped with care.
The Land and Water Form Trays are typically introduced around three to four, alongside the globes. The vocabulary (bay, gulf, island, peninsula, strait, isthmus, etc.) is introduced via three-period lessons and supported by three-part cards showing real-world examples of each feature.
The Plane 2 extensions
Geography in Plane 1 is mostly about shapes and names. In Plane 2 (six to twelve) geography becomes more ambitious.
Physical geography. Layers of the Earth. Plate tectonics and continental drift. Volcanoes, earthquakes, mountains. Rivers, oceans and the water cycle. Climate and biomes. These topics are approached through research projects and nomenclature cards, often tied to the First Great Lesson in Cosmic Education.
Human geography. Countries of each continent. Capital cities. Flags. Languages. Economies. Populations. The child typically picks specific countries of current interest and researches them in depth.
Maps and mapping. Contour maps. Road maps. Topographic maps. Historical maps. The child learns to read different kinds of maps and often makes their own (the local walk, the house, the garden, the way to school).
Going out. Trips to places that are geographically significant: the coast, a river, a hill, a national park, a museum with geographical exhibits (the Natural History Museum has mineral and volcano sections; the British Museum has extensive world geography through its collection).
Common home mistakes
Starting with country names before the continents are learned. The continents come first. A child who knows where Africa is on the globe can then place Egypt within Africa; a child who does not know the continents ends up with country names floating on an undifferentiated globe.
Over-buying at the start. The full set of puzzle maps is expensive. Buy the World Map Puzzle first; add continent puzzles as the child shows interest; do not commit to the full set before the child has worked with the first two maps.
Using one-dimensional printouts for the puzzle maps. Printed paper maps do not produce the same engagement as wooden puzzle pieces. If budget is tight, buy one continent puzzle and use printed maps only for extension; do not skip the puzzle maps altogether.
Skipping the Land and Water Forms. Parents sometimes see these as toddler-adjacent and move straight to maps. The physical feel of a peninsula (land reaching into water) and a bay (water reaching into land) is a useful sensorial foundation for later map reading.
Treating geography as book learning. Montessori geography is hands-on, project-led and outward-looking (going out to real places). A home geography year with no trips has missed half the point.
A real family's geography year
A family we will call the Tregoweths started Montessori geography with their daughter at three and a half.
Year one (age 3.5-4.5). Sandpaper Globe and Continent Globe. World Map Puzzle. Land and Water Form Trays (DIYed from oven-bake clay). Continent names via three-period lessons. One outing: a weekend on the North Cornwall coast specifically to find a bay and a cape on the real coastline.
Year two (age 4.5-5.5). Added the Europe Continent Puzzle Map. Introduced countries of Europe via three-period lessons. Flags of Europe (three-part cards DIYed). Added the Africa Continent Puzzle Map. Outings: a weekend to the Yorkshire Dales for hills and rivers, a trip to Snowdonia for mountains.
Year three (age 5.5-6.5, entering Plane 2). Added North America, Asia, South America and Oceania puzzle maps. Research project on Antarctica (Cosmic Education First Great Lesson thread). Outings: trip to the Natural History Museum's Volcanoes and Earthquakes gallery; a day in Edinburgh climbing Arthur's Seat.
Total cost over three years: about £180 on commercial puzzle maps and globes (bought incrementally), £20 on DIY Land and Water Forms, various outings. Geography vocabulary by age six and a half: continents named and placed; European country names; Land and Water Form vocabulary; basic map-reading.