There’s a lot going on in the world these days. Kids are hearing rumblings about so many countries, many of which are new to them. Depending on their ages, there are some good tools to help initiate conversations about friends and foes overseas, like the clever Leapfrog Tag Maps.

If you’ve got kids from preschool until about third or fourth grade, the Leapfrog Tag World Map is a wonderful place to start. Kids get a taste of geography, foreign languages, and map skills in general, all in a really engaging, interactive way.

You’ve got to invest in the Leapfrog Reading System first–a battery-operated stylus that holds all the data. Download the free app to your Mac or PC, then grab the Map Pack–it essentially looks like a two-sided board game that reverses from a physical world to a political map. Touch the stylus to the various points around the board and you’ll activate interactive games and fun stories and sounds to help bring learning to life. Kids certainly get a kick out of hearing a kid in another country say “hola.”

The really great thing is that the older kids get, the more there is to learn with all the multi-level games. One complaint however is that it doesn’t teach capitals. But that’s all the more reason that you can play with your kids and enrich the experience. Technology is awesome; but it’s definitely no substitute for all the stuff you have to teach too. –Liz

Find the Leapfrog Tag World Map online from Leapfrog or our affiliate Amazon.