This guide introduces some of the most famous explorers in history in a way that's perfect for kids ages 8–12. You'll find who they were, when they lived, and what made each one special — plus a free printable worksheet for every explorer so your young adventurer can keep learning.
What is an explorer?
An explorer is someone who travels to places that are new or unknown to them, to learn what is there and bring the knowledge home. Some explorers crossed oceans, some crossed deserts, and some crossed sheets of ice at the very bottom of the world.
The explorers below lived in different times and places, but they all shared one thing: curiosity strong enough to make them leave the safety of home.
Explorers of the medieval world (before 1400)
Long before modern maps, a few remarkable travelers pushed the edges of the known world. Leif Erikson sailed a Viking longship from Greenland around the year AD 1000 and is the first European known to set foot in the Americas — almost 500 years before Columbus.
Around AD 1271, a teenager from Venice named Marco Polo set out along the Silk Road to China on a journey that lasted 24 years. His book, The Travels, taught Europe about Asia for centuries.
From Tangier in Morocco, Ibn Battuta began traveling in AD 1325 and did not stop for about 30 years — covering roughly 75,000 miles across three continents, further than any traveler of his time.
The great voyages (1400s–1500s)
In Ming China, the admiral Zheng He led seven great voyages beginning in AD 1405, commanding a 'treasure fleet' of the biggest wooden ships on Earth.
In AD 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed west from Europe with three small ships and made four voyages across the Atlantic — journeys that linked Europe and the Americas.
A few years later, in AD 1519, Ferdinand Magellan's expedition set out to sail around the entire world. The voyage took three years and became the first circumnavigation of the globe.
Mapping the oceans and the poles (1700s–1900s)
Starting in AD 1768, the English navigator James Cook made three great voyages across the Pacific Ocean. His charts were so accurate they were used for two hundred years.
By the early 1900s, the last unknown places were the frozen poles. In December 1911, the Norwegian Roald Amundsen — traveling on skis with sled dogs — became the first person to reach the South Pole.
How to keep exploring at home
The best way to make these stories stick is to do something with them. Each explorer above has a free printable worksheet — a fun fact and a word search — and a full Legendary Explorers activity book that turns the whole age of exploration into an adventure your child can hold in their hands.
Print a worksheet, read the fun fact together, and ask your explorer: 'What surprised you?' Kids remember what they explain.