Here's our Asia continent bag. As with each of our continent bags, I do my best to find a variety of things to represent the continent as a whole. This was tricky with our Asia bag, though, because we have family and friends from China and Japan and so most of our souvenirs are from those countries. Here's what's inside: Maps and landmark cards. Books. Some of the books are from China, gifts to us from my brother-in-law's girlfriend. She was so excited to find out about James being able to count to 10 in Mandarin (here's the language program we use) and so she sent us these books. I think she hopes James will continue to learn Chinese and that he'll someday learn to read these books. The blue book is kind of unintentionally humorous - it's a dictionary of American idioms... talk about getting lost in translation. :) Japanese souvenirs: a Mangekyou (kaleidoscope), a Daruma doll, and a San Kai Koma (3 layered spinning top). These items were gifts from our friend, Kana, who recently visited her family in Japan. Miscellaneous souvenirs: Tibetan prayer flags, a mask from Papua New Guinea*, chopsticks from Bali, and a Japanese hand fan - all of these were purchased at a local fair trade store. The silk scarf is from China and was a gift to me from my brother-in-law's girlfriend. *I can't seem to find a definite answer as to which continent Papua New Guinea belongs to. I've read mixed opinions all over the web and the majority seem to align it with Asia. Feel free to add your two cents. :) Music and artwork. I purchased the drum CD years ago at the World Showcase area in Disney's Epcot Center and you can buy the Putumayo CD here. I wrote more about the artwork here. I chose artwork to represent India, Japan, China and Thailand. Pictures and postcards. The pictures are from the continent kit from Montessori For Everyone. The postcards are from Singapore and Japan. Papers, cards, and stamps. The papers can be used for Origami - this site has some easy models for kids. The rubber stamps are from my scrapbooking stash. Chinese flashcards. I found these beautiful cards here and I cut and laminated them. I think James will enjoy looking at these and, someday, I hope he'll be interested in trying to write the characters on our Buddha Board. Three part cards. Animals. I've had those two stone carved animals since I was a child! Money, flags, and stamps. The stamps and most of the currency is fake and are simply images I found on Google. Here again I tried to represent a variety of countries. The Iraqi Dinar is real and was given to us by a friend of ours who was in Iraq during the war. The tiny coin is a real Hong Kong penny, but the other coins are fake - I think I found them in a craft store years ago. The flags (China & Japan) were purchased here. This is a great cookbook with simple, yet authentic recipes from around the world. For each recipe there's a bit of history, too. I'd love to know if you have an authentic and kid-friendly recipe that represents Asia. If you'd like to share it please email me at countingcoconuts(at)gmail(dot)com. Thanks! And speaking of food, one thing I think would be really fun to add to a continent bag is some felt food - in the case of Asia, something like sushi would be cute! I hope you've enjoyed this photo tour of our Asia Continent Bag! You might also enjoy these other posts from my Continent Bag Series: Our Continent Bags Our Continent Bags - Storage Our Continent Bags - North America Our Continent Bags - Antarctica Our Continent Bags - Europe Our Continent Bags - Africa Our Continent Bags - South America Our Continent Bags - Australia Also check out my Continent Bags photo album on the Counting Coconuts Facebook page. I'm linking this post up to The Preschool Corner and Montessori Monday. ~Thank you for your comments!~

While we were safely tucked away in the confines of our homes hiding from the pandemic, some found a much-needed escape in sourdough babies. Some, in endless binge-watching marathons. Others, as this inspiring story proves, turned their attention to the most vulnerable, our grandparents, wishing to repay their kindness while it's not too late.

Whew! At last - the seventh and final bag in my Continent Bag Series! This bag wouldn't be what it is if it weren't for some very generous a...

Ideas and resources for preparing Montessori continent boxes after children work with the Montessori continent map

I love to travel and it was one of the things I made a point of doing a lot of before I had children. Europe is a beautiful continent rich...

I love to travel and it was one of the things I made a point of doing a lot of before I had children. Europe is a beautiful continent rich in history and culture and I feel blessed to have visited it a number of times. And, being the pack rat collector I am, I have quite a bit of European memorabilia and souvenirs as a result. I also have a very bad habit of getting overly nostalgic from time to time, so bear with me while I recall exactly where I found some of these goodies. :) Here's what's inside: Book, maps, and cards. Stickers. Lots of stickers! I purchased these for my Europe scrapbook pages (btw, let me know if any of you are interested in seeing these pages - I'm happy to share them!), but I didn't end up using them all. Most were purchased at places like Archiver's and Michael's, but the four at the bottom left are from the various countries I visited. Miscellaneous souvenirs. I just love that linen doily, which I purchased from a little old lady at a tiny shop in Limerick, Ireland. The two ornaments on the doily are from a beautiful Christmas shop in Rothenberg, Germany (one says "Ich Bringe Gluck", which means "I bring luck"). The Pinocchio ornament is from a shop in the Piazza Navona in Rome, Italy, and the wooden boy is from this German toymaker. The little Eiffel Tower is, obviously, from Paris, France. The Matryoshka nesting dolls are from a Russian store in the US and are a gift from my wonderful sister in law. I have yet to paint them and I'll be sure to post about them when they're finished. Pieces of Europe. I think these items are some of my most favorite possessions. The pouch on the left contains Edelweiss seeds, which I purchased in Salzburg, Austria. I am a HUGE fan of The Sound of Music and the song, Edelweiss. The sand inside that little bottle is from Omaha Beach in Normandy, France. For those unfamiliar, Omaha Beach is the same beach the US Army stormed in World War II. While we were visiting France, my very patriotic husband made a special trip there to pay his respects to our fallen soldiers. The chunk of rock at the top right is an actual piece of the Berlin Wall. I remember standing under the Eiffel Tower and reaching down to grab a handful of pebbles - they are the same you see in the bag on the far right. Funny thing, there's a small rusted nut included in that bag... I wonder if it fell from the Tower? The multi-colored stone is a wishing stone from Galway, Ireland, and that little bit of rubble in the tiny bag is a piece of the Colosseum in Rome, Italy, extracted by yours truly! :) I have a few larger souvenirs, such as a beautiful beer stein purchased during a fun excursion to Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, and I'll be showing them to James when the time comes. Music and artwork. We are a family of music lovers and have always had a wide variety of music in our home. The Spanish Guitar music was one of the first CDs I ever purchased and the other CDs are all a part of the brilliant collection of children's music by Putumayo. I found the art work on Google images. Postcards. As I mentioned before, I've been collecting postcards since I was a young girl. This selection is just a small sampling of them. Some of these are from friends and family, others are from my travels. Special mail. The unique Romanian postcard to the left was sent to us by a lovely blog friend, Ramona - James loves this postcard and spent the first few days of its arrival carrying it around with him. The colorful painting at the top was sent to us from a sweet little boy in Spain as a part of our International Postcard Exchange. Ditto with the letter, which is from a boy in Wales and is written in his own adorable script. Spoons, patches, and pins. More of my spoon collection and a few patches and pins from one of my most memorable experiences - a backpacking trip through Europe with my best friend. We traveled through Europe with literally just a backpack and we had plans to adorn our packs with patches and pins from each of the countries we visited. Somewhere along the line we lost interest in the idea, though, and these are all that remain from our big plan. :) Various emphera and a book. A ticket from a visit to the Neuschwanstein Castle in Fussen, Germany, a bag from a gift shop in The Netherlands, a map from my trip up the Jungfrau in Switzerland, a newspaper from Munich, and a small bag from a shop in Paris. The book is a gift from my sister in law who used to live in Germany. It's the Grimm Brother's tale of The Bremen Musicians and is written entirely in German. I studied German for years and could just about speak and read it fluently. Of course it's one of those "use it or lose it" situations and I now struggle to translate even a simple sentence. Three part cards and animals. Yes, there are just two measly dogs representing our collection of European animals. I think Safari Ltd. needs to make a Toob for each continent! Brochures, photos, pictures, and three part cards. The cards and pictures come from here and the brochures were collected by me as I traveled. I have quite a few photos from my travels and, when the time comes for us to explore our Europe bag, I'll pull them out and share them with James. This particular photo - the one in the upper left hand corner - is of me on the very dark and narrow staircase within the Blarney Castle in Ireland. For some reason, James really likes this photo, so I thought I'd include it. Money, stamps, and stampers. The coins and some of the stamps are real, but most of the items in this photo are images I found on Google and then printed and laminated. The 1000 Lire bill above has an image of Maria Montessori on it! Unfortunately, my stash of European currency (some date from before the Euro was introduced) and stamps are not here in Bermuda with me. The stampers will make for a fun activity when we explore this continent. Recipes and three part cards. This book is great and has a good variety of recipes from around the world. About a month ago, on my Facebook page, I asked if anyone wanted to share an authentic recipe from their country and a few of you were kind enough to send some to me - thank you so much! If anyone else would like to share, please email me at countingcoconuts1(at)gmail(dot)com. Flags from Ireland, Russia, Germany, and England. I hope you've enjoyed this photo tour of our Europe Continent Bag! You might also enjoy these other posts from my Continent Bag Series: Our Continent Bags Our Continent Bags - Storage Our Continent Bags - North America Our Continent Bags - Asia Our Continent Bags - Antarctica Our Continent Bags - Africa Our Continent Bags - South America Our Continent Bags - Australia Also check out my Continent Bags photo album on the Counting Coconuts Facebook page. I'm linking this post up to The Preschool Corner and Montessori Monday. ~Thank you for your comments!~

Yep, that's right - continent bags! Traditionally, boxes are used, but I opted for bags instead... I did this for a few reasons: 1) it's easier to store bags than rigid boxes, 2) I really wanted to honor the traditional colors Montessori uses for each continent (see below) and I knew I'd be able to do this with fabric (no chance I'd find colorful and uniform boxes down here), and 3) I knew I'd need more room for the contents than a box can offer. ~UPDATED TO ADD: Several of you have asked a bit more about the bags. They have a drawstring closure and are 12"w x 13"l in size. I didn't use any kind of pattern, I just sort of eyeballed it. I wanted them to be large enough to hold a standard size folder, but I do wish I had made them just a bit bigger. They looked plenty big until I put everything inside of them! And yes, they are hand-stitched (I still don't own a sewing machine). :) I thought about putting an applique of the coordinating continent on the outside of the bags, but I decided against it because I could just imagine the image folding along the natural creases of the bag, thus making it hard to discern its shape. Also, James has memorized the colors for each continent thanks to our extensive use of the continent puzzle map, so it's really not a necessity in our case. Now I know some of you are wondering, what exactly is a continent box? A continent box is simply a container filled with information and various items that represent a specific region of the world. There's one box for each of the seven continents: North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia (aka Oceania or Australasia) & Antarctica. Continent boxes are a part of the Montessori geography curriculum and they are a very fun and tactile way for children to learn more about the world. Depending on what's included in the boxes, a multi-sensory experience can be had. I'm so excited because after months and months of planning, printing, laminating, sewing and collecting, I'm about 98% finished preparing our continent bags. I'm eager to share more about this project with you and I'll do so over the course of several posts. I really want to give you all the details (read: TONS of photos, tips and links for each bag) and there's no way I'd fit it all in one post, so stay tuned! Oh, and for those of you who'd like to know, here are the traditional Montessori continent colors: North America - Orange South America - Pink Europe - Red Asia - Yellow Africa - Green Australia - Brown Antarctica - White You might also these other posts from my Continent Bag Series: Our Continent Bags - Storage Our Continent Bags - North America Our Continent Bags - Asia Our Continent Bags - Antarctica Our Continent Bags - Europe Our Continent Bags - Africa Our Continent Bags - South America Our Continent Bags - Australia ~Thank you for your comments!~

Earlier this week I wrote about our continent bags and now I want share with you how I store the items inside of the bags. For each bag there are a few 3-part card collections as well as various sets of photos, postcards, maps, etc. I knew I needed a way to keep everything organized and separate so I created some envelopes for each set. First, the 3-part card envelopes. Admittedly, these are not the most perfect envelopes, but they get the job done. Whenever possible I try to avoid using plastic in our classroom mainly because I don't think it's aesthetically pleasing, but, since I needed quite a few of these and since I can't afford nor do I have the ability to make something like this, I had little choice. My dear friend, Susan, shared this link with me and I was inspired to create my own variation. UPDATE: Also visit Montessori Print Shop's excellent photo tutorial! As you can see, I added a flap to one end and a little square of velcro to keep the envelope closed while its not in use. I used scrapbooking paper and kept in mind the coordinating continent colors. I added a label to the front of the envelope, too. These were really easy to make and if you'd like to create your own, here's a quick tutorial: 1. Simply cut the paper based on the size of your 3-part cards. 2. Fold up the bottom (this will end up being the pockets). 3. Crease the paper lengthwise to create three sections. 4. If you'd like, create and adhere a label to the front cover of the envelope. I made a few of these without a label so I could use them for general use in the classroom. 5. With just the bottom folded, put the paper through a laminator. 6. Cut away the excess plastic and refold the paper using the creases as a guide. 7. Using an Exacto knife, very carefully cut slits in the plastic just above the fold. Doing this will create the pockets. 8. Add a square of velcro to the front cover and to the word card section. You'll notice the plastic does buckle/bubble a bit when folded. Like I said, these aren't perfect, but if you can look past that flaw you'll find they are a quick and cheap alternative. I also made some very simple pockets using the same kind of fold, laminate and cut method. I really like how these turned out and I'm so glad to finally be putting some of my scrapbooking paper to use! For the various loose object, such as animal figurines and souvenirs, I hand stitched some small drawstring pouches. Lastly, I used basic pocket folders (the kind you can find at any office supply store) to store large paper items such as maps and information sheets. Again, I color coordinated these with the traditional continent colors. I hope you found this helpful! You might also enjoy these other posts from my Continent Bag Series: Our Continent Bags Our Continent Bags - North America Our Continent Bags - Asia Our Continent Bags - Antarctica Our Continent Bags - Europe Our Continent Bags - Africa Our Continent Bags - South America Our Continent Bags - Australia ~Thank you for your comments!~

Earlier this week I wrote about our continent bags and now I want share with you how I store the items inside of the bags. For each bag there are a few 3-part card collections as well as various sets of photos, postcards, maps, etc. I knew I needed a way to keep everything organized and separate so I created some envelopes for each set. First, the 3-part card envelopes. Admittedly, these are not the most perfect envelopes, but they get the job done. Whenever possible I try to avoid using plastic in our classroom mainly because I don't think it's aesthetically pleasing, but, since I needed quite a few of these and since I can't afford nor do I have the ability to make something like this, I had little choice. My dear friend, Susan, shared this link with me and I was inspired to create my own variation. UPDATE: Also visit Montessori Print Shop's excellent photo tutorial! As you can see, I added a flap to one end and a little square of velcro to keep the envelope closed while its not in use. I used scrapbooking paper and kept in mind the coordinating continent colors. I added a label to the front of the envelope, too. These were really easy to make and if you'd like to create your own, here's a quick tutorial: 1. Simply cut the paper based on the size of your 3-part cards. 2. Fold up the bottom (this will end up being the pockets). 3. Crease the paper lengthwise to create three sections. 4. If you'd like, create and adhere a label to the front cover of the envelope. I made a few of these without a label so I could use them for general use in the classroom. 5. With just the bottom folded, put the paper through a laminator. 6. Cut away the excess plastic and refold the paper using the creases as a guide. 7. Using an Exacto knife, very carefully cut slits in the plastic just above the fold. Doing this will create the pockets. 8. Add a square of velcro to the front cover and to the word card section. You'll notice the plastic does buckle/bubble a bit when folded. Like I said, these aren't perfect, but if you can look past that flaw you'll find they are a quick and cheap alternative. I also made some very simple pockets using the same kind of fold, laminate and cut method. I really like how these turned out and I'm so glad to finally be putting some of my scrapbooking paper to use! For the various loose object, such as animal figurines and souvenirs, I hand stitched some small drawstring pouches. Lastly, I used basic pocket folders (the kind you can find at any office supply store) to store large paper items such as maps and information sheets. Again, I color coordinated these with the traditional continent colors. I hope you found this helpful! You might also enjoy these other posts from my Continent Bag Series: Our Continent Bags Our Continent Bags - North America Our Continent Bags - Asia Our Continent Bags - Antarctica Our Continent Bags - Europe Our Continent Bags - Africa Our Continent Bags - South America Our Continent Bags - Australia ~Thank you for your comments!~

One of the lovely ladies at The Worldwide Culture Swap contacted me to see if we'd like to be a part of a swap. Ummm, YES! I wasted no time in signing up for the standard worldwide swap as well as the mini giveaway swap. Hooray for snail mail field trips! Even though we are Americans, we currently live in Bermuda, so we decided to represent the island. As usual, I went a little overboard. I just couldn't help myself! I kept thinking of more and more information and things to add. It didn't feel complete to me without it all. I think it's safe to say that this package will definitely give someone a clear idea of what Bermuda is all about. I hope I did my Bermudian friends proud! :) James and I had a total blast putting this together. I made sure he was an active part of assembling everything and I consulted his opinion wherever needed. I put together all of the paper information and he chose the images for the documents as well as all of the souvenirs. When it was all said and done we addressed the packages and went to the post office together, too. This was a great opportunity to teach him about how the mail system works. In making these packages James learned a lot about the country we live in, so I decided to make a Bermuda package for ourselves. It'll be a great way for Juliet to learn about Bermuda too and a nice keepsake to have after we move away. I put a lot of thought into our packages and while I'm no expert, I learned a few tricks of the trade along the way. I've shared them below in the "tips" section after each photo description. Ok, so here's what's inside: A flag, stamps, and local currency - the coins are real, but the bills are fake copies. TIP: check out Google images for money photos. Some are very clear and offer front and back images of the same bill. A fun idea, especially if your group includes small children, is to make games out of things. For example, you could make duplicate color copies of stamps, cut them out in uniform sizes and voila! a matching game has been created. A bingo game would be easy to create, too, and if you're really ambitious you could make some nomenclature cards for older kids. Brochures featuring local attractions, stickers, a newspaper, an article from a free tourist guide about favorite local spots for children (this was written by a friend of mine!), and a playing card with the map of Bermuda on it. TIP: a fun and inexpensive souvenir - I bought a deck of cards with an interesting image on them and included one in each package. Also, visit your local tourist information location - there you'll find lots of FREE brochures and guides, and maybe a freebie or two (that's where I found the crayons!). Be sure to get enough for each package. And don't shy away from guide books - you needn't ship the entire book, (which can quickly add to the weight/cost of the package). Instead, go through the book and tear out certain articles and pages that you think are particularly interesting. A cedar ornament, a tiny frog, some beach sand and shells (which we collected from the beach ourselves), game ribbons, a little house craft James and I made together, and fact cards explaining all of those things in better detail. There's also a postcard and some tropical fabric (I cut up a little square for each package). TIP: It's nice to find tactile things to go along with paper information. It's MUCH more interesting to children when they have something they can touch. Also, include internet links where relevant - for example, the tree frogs in Bermuda make a very specific sound, so I included a link to a sound clip of them on YouTube. Appeal to the senses! A detailed map of the island, a fact sheet, a postcard, and activity pages all of which have to do with the locations around Bermuda. On the right is a set that includes a coaster and has to do with the colorful-ness of Bermuda, in particular our homes and buses. TIP: include descriptions of things and group like items together instead of just tossing everything into a giant envelope. It may all make sense to you, since you're familiar with it, but to a foreigner it can be overwhelming. Also, here's another fun and money saving souvenir - get a set of four or more interesting and relevant coasters and put one coaster in each package. More souvenirs: a magnetic bookmark, a pin, a puzzle of the map of Bermuda, a keychain, some pencils, a special box of crayons (these are "Bermuda Colors", a line Crayola made especially for Bermuda), and a bracelet. TIP: let the shopkeeper know you're putting together a package to send to children around the world. Sometimes, as was the case with us, they'll give you a little discount since you're buying multiples of things. Also, personalize your package - include a letter handwritten by your child, and keep in mind the gender and age of the recipients. For example, in our package, not everyone received a bracelet or pirate stickers. A handmade craft is also a very special and personal gift to include, and most of the time it's very inexpensive for you to make! More sets. These have to do with the flora & fauna of Bermuda, and the small creatures that we see regularly around the island. I also included a copy and description of my island scavenger hunt. TIP: It's certainly not a must, but if possible, print your paper information in color - it's much more interesting to look at and people can get a better feel of what they're reading. For example, it wouldn't be as enjoyable to read about the flowers of Bermuda and how bright they are if you're looking at a black and white photo of them. You could include links to internet images if color printing isn't an option for you. More info packs - these include: Bermuda Art, a poem, National Symbols, local customs and traditions, a few activity pages, information about our family, and a local recipe. TIP: try to make your package as well rounded and interactive as possible in an effort to help others really become a part of the country you're representing. For example, include a CD (or internet link) of local music, attach your favorite local recipe that the family can make together, a special treat or food mix (if allowable to ship), print out activity pages or a craft for kids to enjoy working on, and a language sheet with local phrases and/or translations. Well, that's it! What do you think? I hope the receiving families will enjoy our package. We're expecting return packages from Australia; California, USA; Papua New Guinea; Greece; Alberta, Canada; and Slovakia (the latter is a separate and personal swap arranged with one of my lovely readers). We are SO excited to learn more about each of these countries and I can't wait to add our new information to our continent bags. I hope to be able to blog about each package we receive. These swaps are an excellent way of bringing the world a little closer together. :) I strongly urge all of you - parents of children of all ages, teachers, grandparents, everyone! - to sign up with the Worldwide Culture Swap group. And especially those of you living outside the US as I understand the group is in need of other countries in order to arrange swaps for the US folks (there's only 1 US family per swap and they have TONS of US families already signed up and waiting). Check out the Worldwide Culture Swap website to learn more or like their Facebook page to see updates. ~Thank you for your comments!~

Whew! At last - the seventh and final bag in my Continent Bag Series! This bag wouldn't be what it is if it weren't for some very generous and kind Aussies. Honestly, what a bunch of lovely people live in that country! Makes me hope I have the honor of visiting the Land Down Under some day. Here's what's inside: Fact sheet, maps and cards. Postcards and pictures. A few of these postcards are from my childhood pen pals, but most are from the some lovely Australian readers! Animals and three part cards. The animal designs card was a part of a lovely package of Australian goodies I received from wonderful blogger and super mum, Elise, of Inspiration Surrounds, Creativity Abounds. Books. The True Book is part of this series, I found the Animals of Australia book here in the apothecary shop and the Aussie Numbers book is from Elise. Three part cards. Food - a tube of Vegemite (can't wait to try this!), three part cards, and a recipe for Anzac Bikkies from a lovely reader named Kate. Music and artwork. You can find the awesome aboriginal art in this post from Montessori Tidbits. Money and stamps. Both sets are from Google Images. Souvenirs. The stickers and the boomerang are more fab gifts from Elise, the boomerang came with some paints so James can decorate it himself! The mask is from Papua New Guinea. Now, I know there's some contention as to which continent (Asia or Australia) PNG belongs too, and from what I can gather it's actually divided between both. So that's what I'm going to teach James. The beautiful Maori necklace is something very special to me. It was a gift from one of my very first bloggy friends and a beautiful Aussie, Daria. Her husband is Maori and they chose this necklace for me while they traveled to New Zealand. You can read more about bone necklaces and their meanings here. They are hand carved and no two are alike. I'm told it's especially significant if one has been blessed by a Maori, such as mine was. Flags for Australia and New Zealand. I hope you've enjoyed this photo tour of our Australia Continent Bag. You may also enjoy these other posts from my Continent Bag Series: Our Continent Bags Our Continent Bags - Storage Our Continent Bags - North America Our Continent Bags - Asia Our Continent Bags - Europe Our Continent Bags - Antarctica Our Continent Bags - Africa Our Continent Bags - South America Also check out my Continent Bags photo album on the Counting Coconuts Facebook page. I'm linking this post up to The Preschool Corner and Montessori Monday. ~Thank you for your comments!~

Moving right along with my tour of our Continent Bags... next up, Africa! Here's what's inside: Book, maps, and cards. Recipes and three part cards. Music and artwork. The CD to the left is Putumayo's World Playground, and the CD on the right is a collection of songs by Uganda native, Geoffrey Oryema. It's a beautiful CD with a lot of depth. The artwork is from Google images. Animals, three part cards, and memory game. The game is something simple I whipped up by putting matching sets of safari stickers on note cards. Various Egypt items. All of the figurines, with the exception of the Ankh, come from this Toob, as did the information strip to the far left. The pyramid is my husband's (no idea where he got it from). I'm excited about the Hieroglyphic sheets (found on Google images) - I think James is going to love using the translator to read them. Three part cards and pictures. Money, stamps, and stamper. Miscellaneous souvenirs. The djembe and the bracelet were found at a local fair trade store, the necklace is made of paper beads by women in Uganda. The little thumb piano is from here and the pencil box is something I bought at Pier One almost 20 years ago! Flags from Ghana, Madagascar, and Egypt. I hope you've enjoyed this photo tour of our Africa Continent Bag! You may also enjoy these other posts from my Continent Bag Series: Our Continent Bags Our Continent Bags - Storage Our Continent Bags - North America Our Continent Bags - Asia Our Continent Bags - Antarctica Our Continent Bags - Europe Our Continent Bags - South America Our Continent Bags - Australia Also check out my Continent Bags photo album on the Counting Coconuts Facebook page. I'm linking this post up to The Preschool Corner and Montessori Monday. ~Thank you for your comments!~

Here's our Asia continent bag. As with each of our continent bags, I do my best to find a variety of things to represent the continent as a whole. This was tricky with our Asia bag, though, because we have family and friends from China and Japan and so most of our souvenirs are from those countries. Here's what's inside: Maps and landmark cards. Books. Some of the books are from China, gifts to us from my brother-in-law's girlfriend. She was so excited to find out about James being able to count to 10 in Mandarin (here's the language program we use) and so she sent us these books. I think she hopes James will continue to learn Chinese and that he'll someday learn to read these books. The blue book is kind of unintentionally humorous - it's a dictionary of American idioms... talk about getting lost in translation. :) Japanese souvenirs: a Mangekyou (kaleidoscope), a Daruma doll, and a San Kai Koma (3 layered spinning top). These items were gifts from our friend, Kana, who recently visited her family in Japan. Miscellaneous souvenirs: Tibetan prayer flags, a mask from Papua New Guinea*, chopsticks from Bali, and a Japanese hand fan - all of these were purchased at a local fair trade store. The silk scarf is from China and was a gift to me from my brother-in-law's girlfriend. *I can't seem to find a definite answer as to which continent Papua New Guinea belongs to. I've read mixed opinions all over the web and the majority seem to align it with Asia. Feel free to add your two cents. :) Music and artwork. I purchased the drum CD years ago at the World Showcase area in Disney's Epcot Center and you can buy the Putumayo CD here. I wrote more about the artwork here. I chose artwork to represent India, Japan, China and Thailand. Pictures and postcards. The pictures are from the continent kit from Montessori For Everyone. The postcards are from Singapore and Japan. Papers, cards, and stamps. The papers can be used for Origami - this site has some easy models for kids. The rubber stamps are from my scrapbooking stash. Chinese flashcards. I found these beautiful cards here and I cut and laminated them. I think James will enjoy looking at these and, someday, I hope he'll be interested in trying to write the characters on our Buddha Board. Three part cards. Animals. I've had those two stone carved animals since I was a child! Money, flags, and stamps. The stamps and most of the currency is fake and are simply images I found on Google. Here again I tried to represent a variety of countries. The Iraqi Dinar is real and was given to us by a friend of ours who was in Iraq during the war. The tiny coin is a real Hong Kong penny, but the other coins are fake - I think I found them in a craft store years ago. The flags (China & Japan) were purchased here. This is a great cookbook with simple, yet authentic recipes from around the world. For each recipe there's a bit of history, too. I'd love to know if you have an authentic and kid-friendly recipe that represents Asia. If you'd like to share it please email me at countingcoconuts(at)gmail(dot)com. Thanks! And speaking of food, one thing I think would be really fun to add to a continent bag is some felt food - in the case of Asia, something like sushi would be cute! I hope you've enjoyed this photo tour of our Asia Continent Bag! You might also enjoy these other posts from my Continent Bag Series: Our Continent Bags Our Continent Bags - Storage Our Continent Bags - North America Our Continent Bags - Antarctica Our Continent Bags - Europe Our Continent Bags - Africa Our Continent Bags - South America Our Continent Bags - Australia Also check out my Continent Bags photo album on the Counting Coconuts Facebook page. I'm linking this post up to The Preschool Corner and Montessori Monday. ~Thank you for your comments!~

A beautiful tote bag in African style. “Motherland” which means “mother earth” to highlight our roots. Even if you're not from Africa, you can wear this bag to celebrate this beautiful continent. Entirely made by hand. This bag is customizable (maximum of 15 letters). You can write your name or that of someone for a gift, a positive expression etc. Length: 18" Width: 14" Size may vary by an inch or a half.