Lesson pack · 15 minutes · Ages 8 to 14
Europe's flags
By the end, students can: recognise the flags of 15 European countries and explain how to tell look-alike flags apart.
The plan
- 0 to 2 minStarter
Show the flag of the day and ask: which European countries have flags with three stripes? Take three guesses.
- 2 to 10 minLive game
Host the Europe warm-up as a live game (15 flags, easy). Read each flag aloud as it appears, and pause on any flag fewer than half the class got right.
- 10 to 13 minLook-alikes
Put each pair below on the board and ask the class what's different before you reveal it.
- 13 to 15 minPlenary
Everyone writes down one pair of look-alike flags and the trick for telling them apart.
Look-alike flags to discuss
Ireland is green, white and orange. Italy is green, white and red.
Luxembourg's blue is lighter, and its flag is a little longer.
Monaco is red on top. Poland is white on top.
Moldova has a coat of arms in the middle. Romania's is plain.
Homework
Set the same quiz as homework, due next lesson. Students can retry until they're happy with their score.
Where it fits
- England, Key Stage 2 geography: locating the world's countries on maps, with a focus on Europe and the Americas
- England, Key Stage 3 geography: extending locational knowledge of the world's countries, including Africa and Asia
- US National Geography Standards: using maps and other geographic representations to understand places