Making Maps
Recommended Age:
6+
|
Mathematical Topic:
Spatial Skills
What You Need
Paper and drawing materials (pencils, crayons, or markers), sticky notes
What To Do
Work with your child to draw a map of his or her favorite room in your home. As you create the map together, model spatial thinking and language (e.g., “when I sit on the couch, the table is in front of me and the lamp is on my left.)
1
Help them choose one object to start with (e.g., the stove, a couch, or their bed) and try to figure out where to draw that object on the paper. To assist with this process, pose questions like: “Is the couch in the middle of the room, or along one side? Does it take up the whole wall, or just part of it?” Encourage them to show the object with a very simple sketch (e.g., a rectangle for a bed) and not to worry about detailed drawings.
2
Next help your child think of other objects in the room and decide where each one should go on the map before sketching it. It might help to use sticky notes to mark the places where your child wants to draw objects on the map.
What To Know
Making maps requires complex spatial thinking because we need to think about how objects are positioned relative to one another and also how to show 3-dimensional objects on a 2-dimensional piece of paper.
