World Biomes Pin Map
Are you asking yourself, “What in the world is a biomes pin map?” It’s a map that shows where the rain forests, deserts, grasslands, forest and tundra regions are located. A pin map is when you stick straight pins into the labels so kids can pinpoint where things are located. There you go, sounds fancy, but really it’s not! 
Before we really delved into our study of rain forest foods (and chocolate!) and where they came from, we stepped back to look at the world’s biomes. I pulled out the world biomes pin map I had made a few years ago.
First, we reviewed the seven continents song for ED (to the tune of Frère Jacques) :
Europe, Asia, A-fri-ca-a
North America, South America
Then there is Antarctica
Don’t forget Australia
Seven continents, Seven Continents
Then I had the kids guess what the colors were on the map (because it’s been a couple of years since we used this map). Then I showed them the map legend and let them explore that for a little while.
We talked about the different biomes in North America and placed those pins onto the map. We talked quite a bit about the difference between deciduous and boreal (or coniferous) forests.
We then pulled out the Rain Forest pins and talked about the regions of the world that are covered with rain forests. We noted that the rain forests are near the equator and talked about the climate (being hot, humid, rainy).
I created these files several years ago and uploaded them onto another platform, but decided to upload them to google docs as well because scribd sometimes requires a fee. See the links below.
If you are interested in making your own world biomes pin map here are the printables:
World Biome Map (used with permission)
Pin Map Pieces and Legend Page 2
This activity was done in conjunction with our study of the Aztecs. We looked first at the world biomes map; then we looked at plants of the rain forest regions; and finally talked a lot about the history of chocolate (first consumed by the Ancient Mayans and later the Aztecs).
I’ll share the printable about rain forest plants on Thursday and will talk more about our chocolate activities then too! Yum!
Stayed tuned tomorrow for an interview with the well known unschooler, Dayna Martin.
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PS — Someone asked me over on my Facebook page how I made the pin map. Here’s a post about how I make pin maps (in that case Europe)-- but my blogging friend over at We Don’t Need No Education suggested just using a piece of cork and straight pins. That works just as well!
by Annabel
On June 12, 2012 at 11:32 am
Thanks a lot. It is very nice.
by Liesl Den
On June 12, 2012 at 1:38 pm
I’m so glad you could use it. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment! ~Liesl
by Discovering Montessori
On June 12, 2012 at 10:52 pm
I had to pop over here quickly when I saw the title of the post. I am always excited about your geography postings. I especially love viewing your map works. I appreciate you linking to me. Thank you so much for sharing. Finally I have color and black ink at the same time. I needed to be reminded of this work you created because every time I remember I am out of ink. I am printing right now, I hope my turns out as good as yours.
by Geography materials: World biomes pinmap | Child and Me
On June 14, 2012 at 10:31 pm
[...] World Biomes Pin Map. [...]
by Bekah
On November 4, 2012 at 7:52 pm
oh my goodness THANK YOU! I have been searching everywhere for something like this. My son wanted to learn about where giraffes lived so I decided to turn into biomes. . .this is excellent!
by Liesl Den
On November 4, 2012 at 8:24 pm
Glad you found it helpful!!
by Weeda Hamdan
On November 5, 2012 at 8:26 am
Thank YOU so much for sharing!!! This is superb! It makes our life a lot easier when we come across something like this! Thank you again!
by Free Montessori Materials from Around the Web - Live and Learn Farm | Live and Learn Farm
On April 12, 2013 at 9:01 pm
[...] http://www.parents.com/blogs/homeschool-den/2012/06/12/science/world-biomes-pin-map/ new [...]