Can your child find China, Japan, and South Korea on a map? What about Laos, Brunei, Myanmar, or Singapore?
Our free East Asia geography challenge invites children to identify 17 countries across one of the world’s most fascinating and geographically diverse regions. And while maps are fun and effective tools for learning where countries are located, we at Around the World Stories believe geography should really begin with a story.
When children connect with characters and follow their adventures, the countries on a map are no longer just names and shapes. They become places where something exciting happened.
Imagine learning about countries this way:
- China — where Jia discovers magic on the Great Wall and helps save a baby panda.
- Japan — where Kimiko races through the world’s largest city to help save her father’s job.
- South Korea — where Sun-mi returns a missing pendant to its owner and must decide who will join her at the big K-Pop concert.
- Thailand — Where Kovit becomes assistant to the head of his village and Preecha, the town’s prize rooster, runs off to the big city with the Bangkok Dream Team.
- Vietnam — where twins Tien and Linh become magician assistants and get mixed up with robot monkeys causing chaos in the streets.
Suddenly, countries and learning take on a whole new meaning. And once children know and care about other places around the world, it becomes much easier to build from there—to learn capitals, rivers, seas, oceans, mountains and monuments.
Test your geography knowledge?
The blank downloadable map contains 17 countries. Challenge yourself and your child to identify as many as possible before looking at the answer key.
Children can use the challenge in several ways:
- Write the country names directly on the blank map.
- Write the answers on a separate numbered sheet.
- Take turns pointing to each country and naming it aloud.
- Let younger children use the answer key as a guide.
- Challenge older children—and grown-ups—to complete the map without help.
7 Ways to Extend the Geography Challenge
Once the map is complete, keep exploring with a few of these activities:
- Color the map. Give every country a different color.
- Find the islands. Which countries are entirely or partly made up of islands?
- Explore the seas. Can your child locate the South China Sea and the Sea of Japan?
- Mark familiar places. Put a star beside countries your child has already learned about.
- Pick a mystery country. Choose one unfamiliar country and investigate it together.
- Find the capitals. Once the countries are familiar, add their capital cities.
- Plan a dream trip. Which country would your child most like to visit—and why?
Your free map challenge awaits!
Keep Exploring with Around the World Stories
This map challenge is just one small part of what we do at Around the World Stories.
We create original audio adventures for children ages 5–11 that introduce them to countries, cultures, and everyday life around the world. Each Country Set includes four 30-minute stories supported by recipes, maps, crafts, games, art lessons, and other activities that let children explore each destination in different ways.
Because when children become curious about a place, geography stops being something they have to memorize—and becomes somewhere they want to explore.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.