Are maps going the way of the rotary phone?
Most of the time our maps are a grid of roads on a screen. Still, maps are still an essential tool, and anyone can enjoy learning more about how they work.
This project turns map-making can be a fun activity for kids, especially when it’s paired with some fantastic picture books!
This is an easy project to tackle. You just need some paper and some pencils, crayons, or markers for drawing.
You will also want to read any of these three books:
(Note: these links include affiliate links to Amazon. There is no extra cost for using them.)
Camilla, Cartographer, by Julie Dillemuth, illustrated by Laura Wood.
Mapping My Day, by Julie Dillemuth, illustrated by Laura Wood.
Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea: Marie Tharp Maps the Ocean Floor, by Robert Burleigh, illustrated by Raúl Colón.
– – – – –
This map-making activity started after we borrowed Camilla, Cartographer and read it through several times.
In this book, Camilla the boar dreams of becoming a mapmaker. She doesn’t think that’s possible, though – someone else had already mapped all the places she’s ever been.
Then a heavy snowfall changes her world. When Camilla ventures outside again, she discovers that there are many, many more maps to be made!
Mapping My Day explores map-making in even more detail, as a kid draws out the important places in their day. Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea takes a more scientific route. It shows how scientist Marie Tharp discovered a new way to explore the ocean floor. Her work helped scientists discover continental plates.
These are all three fun stories and worth reading “just because.” They are also great books to pair with a map-making project!
Drawing your map:
For this project, start by picking a specific place – a house, a yard, or even just a bedroom.
If you want, you can use a compass (or an app on a phone) to find where north is. Then draw a compass rose in the corner of your paper to show north. This will help you keep your map oriented in the right direction.
A map isn’t a picture of a place. It’s not a drawing of shapes or buildings. It’s an outline showing whether objects are inside of that area.
Take a couple minutes to think about the area. Pretend you are looking straight down at it, without any walls or ceilings to block your view. What can you see? Where are the important objects in that space?
Now think about the outside edges of that space. What do they look like? Are they four long, straight lines? Do the edges wiggle and curve? Draw these boundary lines on the paper.
What does the inside space look like? Most bedrooms will have a bed and a dresser. Houses have several rooms – all of them different sizes. A yard usually has plants, grass, a driveway, or even a fence. Draw these details inside the boundary lines.
What else can you add to this map? What makes your space unique and special to you?
STEM & Maps:
Are you working with older kids? Suggest that they use graphing paper and a tape measure to map their space to scale.
For this map, start by measuring that total length and width of the space. Then count the number of squares on the grid and calculator the ratio of feet to squares.
For example, take a space that is forty feet across. Use grid twenty squares across–or two feet to each square. This grid system allows mapmakers to set the correct scale for their map before they fill it in.
Contour Maps:
Older kids can also create a topographic or contour map, like the ones Marie Tharp created. This requires drawing elevation, as well as distance. I recommend finding a variety of topographical maps and studying how they work before trying to draw one.
Surveyors use special equipment to measure elevation. To keep things simple, you can use a pole with a string tied to the top. You will need to know how tall the pole is. Then tie knots in the string at one-foot intervals. These knows help you measure distance.
Once the pole is ready, place it at the lowest point in the area you are measuring. Then stretch the string out level. When the string reaches the hillside, mark that place down. Use your pole to calculate the vertical and horizontal distance. If the pole is two feet tall, for example, your new spot will be two feet higher in elevation. If the new spot is six knots distant from the pole, then it’s six feet away.
Measure the distance and the elevation of several points, marking them down on the map. Then move the pole to one of these points and start the process again. Continue doing this until you have measured the elevation for the entire space.
Use your measurements to create the contour lines for your map.
Other Map Ideas:
Some kids will not want to map their house or yard. If they prefer to map a different place or create their own imaginary place instead, that’s perfectly fine! The goal is to create a map showing how things fit together, not to draw things in someone’s house.
How can you explore a map today?
Leave a Reply