Geography - Hebrew Empire Scramble!

This is one of those ideas that sounded great in my head late last night - Hebrew Empire Scramble! And you never really know with 'those kind' of ideas. Will it be great? Will it stink? Well, I'm happy to report that this fun way to review Week 3 Geography memory work was a big HIT! I saw this great idea for gel sensory bags at Totally Tots, and I knew this would be awesome. Then I started thinking, late at night of course, about a different way to utilize these bags. Mary's been having trouble remembering the parts of the Hebrew Empire, and maybe we could make the gel bags into the Sea of Galilee, Jordan River, and the Dead Sea. It's so crazy... it just might work. ;) So, I followed the directions at Totally Tots, threw in some extra Map Friends, glitter, and beads, and viola! After making the water parts, I used construction paper and my handy-dandy laminator to make the other parts of the Hebrew Empire. Two things: this is SO not to scale, obviously, and I had to include Philistia to make it match our control map in our Geography Review Book.

Here's how it looks when all the pieces are in the right place (Stop laughing! I told you it wasn't to scale! ;)  ). This is just like a big puzzle, and it's called a Scramble because you hide the different pieces around the room and the kids scramble to find them and arrange them correctly. 

Yes, that's Dory in the Sea of Galilee! 

Mary LOVED hiding all the pieces!

Anna found the Jordan River.

Okay, explanation is SO needed for these next pictures. Yes, that is a laminated paper doll of George W. Bush. He's playing the role of Judah now since Mary has lost the southern kingdom. And why do I just happen to have a paper doll of W hanging around the house? Long story. ;)

They did it! Both girls had a great time, and Mary is doing a much better job of remembering the parts of the Hebrew Empire. Mission accomplished!

Thanks for the help, Mr. 43! ;)