Economic Geography for Kids (and Adults)

Recently while I was surfing the Internet, I came across a blog that talked about a teacher who had all her kids stand in a row. Then each student looked at the tag of the shirt of the kid next in line to see where it had come from, and then they had a discussion about global economy. The blogger suggested taking food labels and putting them on a map so that kids could do a version of this. Unfortunately I can't remember the name of the blog, and even though I've searched for it, I can't find it.

I remembered the idea, though, as I love maps, and I'd like my kids to have some idea that a much bigger world exists beyond our little valley. So we started putting food stickers on our globe. Apples came from the USA, avacados from Mexico, cantaloupe from Guatemala, and bananas from Ecuador. We discussed what climate each of those foods need and how they might be transported to our house. We keep checking our food for stickers, because now it's a game to see what other countries we might be getting our food from.

It's easy, fun, and maybe educational (but don't tell that to the kids!)