To begin my hands-on American History class at my homeschool co-op, I decided to introduce the world explorers by playing our Guess Who?-inspired game: Guess the World Explorer! Not all of the kids knew details about the various world explorers, so we revisited the information cards to learn as we played.
I cut out the twenty world explorers cards and I print the cards with tabs, which will go on the board. I use a cardboard side from a diaper box as some boards. I use the cereal box cardboard for some others.
Here are the 20 world explorers included in the set:
When my kids were younger, we kept it more simple. We just used 12 of the explorers, focusing on new world explorers since we were doing American history. In my co-op class, which is focused on American history, we used the simplified boards.
In addition to the "selection" cards, I cut out the world explorer cards with a tab at the bottom. I bent back the tab to prop up the images. I only attached the bottom tab of those cards on to the board. My sample board in the images has just the larger 12 cards instead of the full 20-card boards.
We use the explorer cards to do learn about the explorers a bit before we play. It helps to solidify the concepts we will need in the game. A great way to learn is to sort. We can sort the explorers by where they are from and/or where they sailed from. Understanding where the sailors came from helps give context to the world history of exploring the world.
We learn about world history as we sort explorers by nation
We also discuss the ways the explorers traveled, and why they traveled. What were they trying to accomplish? Each of the information cards and all the smaller cards in the games have graphics to match the sorting categories. When we sort first, it helps us to recognize the similarities and differences among all the explorers.
A favorite sort is how and why explorers traveled to the New World.
In my co-op class, I gave a half-page sized card to each person and we walked around to sort ourselves. It helped the kids recognize their own explorers when we were playing the game, and it was a fun activity to move around the room as we "sorted" ourselves.
Let me walk you through a sample game, using the simplified board. I have twelve explorers to prop up on our game board.
I'm Coronado, but don't tell my daughter!
I got my card. Then we ask yes or no questions to eliminate options. I know my daughter does not have a French person. Now I just need to eliminate more explorers to find out which she is! When I eliminate a person, I push the card down on to the board so I cannot see the world explorer’s face anymore.
I know she's an Italian. Which one could it be?
My daughter has been asking me quite specific questions, so she has not limited down the possibilities very much yet. I try to prompt her to ask more general questions. Some great questions would be these:
Ooooooo! I figured out my daughter's explorer.
And my guess was right! My daughter shows me her Amerigo Vespucci card. Then she finds me (Francisco Coronado) on her board. She begs to play again. I am happy to oblige. Who will I be next time?
Guess the Explorer! makes learning and reviewing the world explorers a lot of fun. Included with the game cards and set up instructions is a set of pages describing the explorers, to be used as learning or review posters. There’s also a blank page for students to research a world explorer of their choice. New is a set of sorting cards, timeline cards, and more.
The Guess the Explorer info pages and game is available at my Shop as well as at Teachers Pay Teachers.
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