Europe Day falls on 9 May, and the children at the PlusKids after school marked it with a few educational activities about Europe.
The best-loved of them was the map: the children were delighted to place the flags on the map of Europe with their own hands. It looks like a simple activity, but it does exactly what a list of countries learned by heart never manages. To put a flag in the right place you need three things at once: to know what it looks like, to know where the country is, and to see who its neighbours are. All three settle together, because they arrive tied to one another.
The map has the further advantage of staying in view. A child who placed a flag themselves comes back to it, points it out to the others and looks for it next time — and the position of that country sticks far better than if someone else had merely pointed at it.
We also talked about what the day actually means: that countries once at war with one another chose, at a certain point, to work together. It is a big idea for their age, but it is worth saying simply — because it explains why all those flags sit today on the same map.