Use Initials

• The seven continents are Asia, Africa, Australia, North American, South America, Europe and Antarctica. That’s four A’s, an N, a S and an E. Make up a sentence in which one word starts with each of those letters: “Anna, Andy, Sam And Evan Ate Noodles.” The sillier the better, as long as it sticks in your mind, and you can remember to associate the words with their correct continents. This system also works well with other lists like the oceans.
  
  

Make Up a Story

• Another mnemonic device is to make up a story using images you associate with each continent. For instance, Africa might make you think of elephants, Europe of the Eiffel Tower; Australia, kangaroos; Antarctica, icebergs; Asia, mountains; North America, buffalos; and South America, jungles. In this story, an elephant, a kangaroo and a buffalo went down the mountain, trekked through the jungle, floated across the ocean on an iceberg and stormed the Eiffel Tower. Once again, the important thing is to make associations that you will remember.
  
  

Recite a Poem

• Rhymes have always been an easy way to memorize difficult information. The website AT Youth Safety recommends a short poem: “North America, South America joined in the West./ Europe and Asia meet together, and on Africa they rest./ Australia stands alone, floating down below./ And Antarctica is the loneliest because no one wants to go.” The advantage of this is that it doesn’t just suggest the continent names, but also identifies their general locations and relationships to each other.
  
  

Make Up a Song

• Pick a familiar tune, and sing the names of the continents to it. A little experimentation will show you the best order to place them in to match the rhythm of the song. Fill in extra lines with phrases like “the continents of the earth,” or “there’s seven total continents.” For instance, try this to the tune of “Oh, Susanna”: “Oh, there’s North and South America, Australia and Europe. Antarctica and Asia make all of them for us. [chorus] Seven continents, upon the earth’s blue seas! And all of them have A’s in them, except for Europe, please.”