Mapmaking for Kids By Nancy Kamp

 

You'll need:

• White paper or poster board
• Pencil
• Pens / markers / crayons

If your child is young, make this project a one shot deal.  Perfection is not the goal for the little ones.  Instead, regard this as an introduction to mapmaking and suggest your child repeat the project every year so they can monitor their progress.

Older children might want to make a rough draft with a pencil before they go to work on the poster board.

Begin by discussing the area the child intends to map - the home, the yard, the street, a limited neighborhood.  Suggest they orient the home to the front door and the streets to compass directions so they can indicate the direction of north on their map.

Allow the child to map freely.  Some children will enjoy reading their maps - guiding tours of the area they mapped by the maps they made.  This may lead to a fresh round of mapmaking as the child discovers the dog's house is missing or the first map they made leads the tour group into a wall. 

 

 

The Dunnigan Family Home from The Goodbye Lie  By Jane Marie (A Fernandina Fancy Fable)

 

  click on young Jack Patrick's map of the Dunnigan property to enlarge it