Anonymous wrote:He could try to play Worldle on the phone though I'm guessing it would be way too hard, even with his knowledge base.

Just want to say what I love the Worldle! Sometimes it's hard but it's really fun and I've learned a lot of geography.

Anonymous wrote:These might be some of the worst suggestions I’ve ever seen

Yes, YOUR suggestions are so much better.

Oh, wait…

+1000 to sporkle, Carmen San Diego, and a variety of atlases and almanacs. My dh and I are both like this. We met in a GIS class. Remains to be seen if our kids inherited our passions

I also used to make maps of imaginary places on poster board. Scavenger hunts and way finding games could also be fun for more active entertainment.

Forgot to mention that he also loved almanacs and books of world records.

My now-18 yo (without autism, btw) was like this in kindergarten! He was a good reader and loved the world atlas— we had a few versions (including a huge, super-fancy one that was gifted to my husband who also likes maps) and would check more out of the library. He knew so many state and world capitals and facts about countries. After devouring so many books and atlases, he began to freehand draw maps. It was always fun to watch him explore his passions!

Get him a globe toy!

https://www.amazon.com/Shifu-Orboot-App-Based-Educational/dp/B075WW3JKQ

My DS 8 is like this, and has been since he was about 5. He loves Google Earth and its informational layers. I also second the votes for Worldle.

Pp here. I posted a National Geographic link for kids and then found this one which also seems to be National Geographic for kids. I really don’t know why they’re different.
https://www.natgeokids.com/nz/category/discover/geography/

I searched for geography on other site.
https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/search?q=geography&location=srp&type=manual

Hoagies has links to websites for enrichment for all ages and subjects. Here’s their pages for geography and social studies links:
https://www.hoagiesgifted.org/geography.htm
https://www.hoagiesgifted.org/social_studies.htm

Sporcle is a general quiz website with quizzes on everything (not just academic subjects)
https://www.sporcle.com/games/category/geography

FreeRice has quizzes on many subjects, including world geography. Every correct answer donates 10 grains of rice to the UN World Food Programme.
https://freerice.com/categories

You say he doesn’t like to read, but he might like looking at the pictures in National Geographic. I think there’s a kids’ version too, but I don’t have experience with that. Here’s their kid’s website:
https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/

Postcards from Buster was a PBS show. It looks like one season is available on Amazon, but requires an extra subscription.

Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego (the original cartoon) seems to be free on a number of streaming channels, including The Roku Channel.
It looks like there’s a newer version called Carmen Sandiego on Netflix.

While it’s already taken place this year, I highly recommend you take him to future Smithsonian Folklife Festivals. I haven’t been since COVID, but they slways had kid activities along with live demonstrations, performances, and great food.
https://festival.si.edu/

Sakura Matsuri is a Japanese festival held in the spring. It’s great too.

The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History has some exhibits about cultures around the world.

The National Geographic museum sometimes has exhibits related to other cultures. It looks like they currently have one called Beyond King Tut.
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/tickets/events/event/beyond-king-tut-the-immersive-experience/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=paid-search&utm_campaign=tut-exhibit&utm_term=branded&utm_content=responsive&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_bvrlaTB-QIV2jizAB1H3gf4EAAYASAAEgKen_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I think once you get started, there’s a lot that you and your husband know that can be adapted for a young kid. As the US is an immigrant country, it reflects the history and cultures of the nations they came from. There are immigrant communities that still reflect those. You might try doing a country a month at a time. You could start with Greece - read him Aesop’s fables and read him some myths. If you think it’s appropriate for his age, watch Percy Jackson. There were also some really cheesy old movies made about the myths. Disney made a feature about Hercules. You could read Magic Treehouse Hour of the Olympics or Time Warp Trio My Big Fat Greek Olympics and maybe have some family competitions (or challenge him to see how fast he can run, far he can jump, etc.). Try baklava. Talk about pebble voting and then vote for trivial things with pebbles (checkers, coins, beans, etc.). Talk about how they liked theater and take him to a children’s play. Maybe take a visit to an art museum, but he probably won’t want to linger.

Basically, every culture has folktales (children’s non-fiction section), art, food, traditions, games, theater, music, etc. YouTube is a wonderful source, as he’s already discovered. DC is a fabulous area between museums, festivals, restaurants, embassies, etc. Just do what sounds like fun to you and don’t stress about doing everything. It needs to be fun and easy for you as well as him.

Sounds like a kid that would enjoy Worldle- it is geography Wordle. It give hints in the form of directional arrows, so an atlas is a fun tool to use.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This sounds very much like a child on the autism spectrum, if you didn’t know that already. One of my favorite students was a little boy just like this. You can take him to the public library and the librarian can help you. I am sure he would love a World Almanac or a copy of the CIA Factbook.

NP here and teacher. Disagree 100%. Sounds like a cool kid to me! My brother was like this ad a kid with airline facts- still is, and so is his 11 year old son. Both normal people.

Pp This attitude is very distressing. People with Autism are not abnormal! They are different. Also, people with Autism can also be cool and interesting! Why would you think they are not capable? I feel sorry for any student of yours who does have Autism because you are very biased against them. My dd has Autism and I think what the pp wrote is spot on. But, I don't think of it as a deficit. There are so many brilliant people with Autism starting with Greta Thunberg, Bill Gates and other historical figures who also might have had Autism Albert Einstein or Thomas Jefferson.


Think of this...if you lived in a community where everyone had autism than that would be the normal and YOU would be the abnormal.

Please educate yourself before you do harm

Anonymous wrote:This sounds very much like a child on the autism spectrum, if you didn’t know that already. One of my favorite students was a little boy just like this. You can take him to the public library and the librarian can help you. I am sure he would love a World Almanac or a copy of the CIA Factbook.

There is something seriously wrong with you.

I did pretty much the same thing this kid is doing when I was a kid, and I am nowhere near anything on the autism spectrum. If the kid spent the same amount of time focusing on kicking a soccer ball, would you say the same thing?

My nine year old son is obsessed with European countries because we watched Eurovision in May. One thing he did was make his own card game...he wrote country names on index cards and we play it like Go Fish. Only he calls it Go Country. Creating the cards could be fun through decorating with flags or adding facts.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This sounds very much like a child on the autism spectrum, if you didn’t know that already. One of my favorite students was a little boy just like this. You can take him to the public library and the librarian can help you. I am sure he would love a World Almanac or a copy of the CIA Factbook.

It is never possible to diagnose a child over the internet. I cannot believe you are a teacher.

Plus 1. Obviously not a very good one!

I would get him an atlas. Get a nice big one with good pictures/extra info. My mother worked for a cartopgrapher for a while and had a bunch of map books I was obsessed with for a while in elementary school -- I liked the gemstones info the best but your child might different things.

Also Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego was a ton of fun for my sister.

Since he seems to like general info/memorization, also maybe he would like an almanac?