Places around the world
Year 3 · Geography
Explore places, read maps and discover the world around you.
Choose a game
Take your time, try a game and collect stars.
UK cities: which country are they in?
Is Swansea in Wales or Scotland? Where is Armagh? A free Year 3 geography game about cities in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Play UK cities: which country are they in?
Learning about places around the world
In this Year 3 geography collection, you can practise UK cities: which country are they in?. Choose a game above for a short activity, or explore the examples below before you play. The full guide for each game explains its controls, gives more examples and includes a free printable for practice away from the screen.
Talk it through
Keep a globe, atlas or simple map nearby. Ask your child to point to a place or direction before naming it. Relate a map symbol or feature to a real example, and compare places rather than memorising isolated names.
Ask: “Where would you look to check your answer?” Give your child time to explain. Return to an example after playing and ask whether they would approach it differently.
UK cities: which country are they in?
In Key Stage 2, children name and locate cities of the United Kingdom and learn which of the four countries each one is in. In the game, children sort cities into the four countries of the UK. The Quick quiz names a city and asks for its country, or names a country and asks which of four cities is in it. Every city in the game is on the official UK list of places with city status, so there are no arguments about whether a place really is a city.
Try an example: Which country of the UK is Swansea in?
Swansea is on the south coast, west of Cardiff.
Show the answer
Wales.
What to look out for
Thinking every big town is a city. City status is granted by the monarch. Some big towns (like Reading) are not cities, and some small places (like St Davids) are.
Practise away from the screen
- Look at where friends and family live and find their nearest city on a map.
Curriculum connections
These games support selected practice connected to Locational knowledge in the National Curriculum in England. The programme groups requirements by key stage; the year shown here is our suggested practice placement. A game covers selected examples, rather than assessing every requirement.
Questions families ask
Where should we start with places around the world?
Start with UK cities: which country are they in?. Look at the worked example together, then try a round. If the task feels unfamiliar, use the full game guide or its free printable before trying again.
Does this cover everything taught at this level?
No. This collection brings together the games currently available for this learning area. It supports selected skills and does not replace the full programme of study or practical teaching.