Let’s Make a Map!
Elinor and her friend Olive are ready for an exciting adventure! They’re playing pirates with Ari, and he’s hidden some pirate treasure. It’s up to Elinor and Olive to find the treasure, but Ari forgot how to get to it. Siggy the squirrel to the rescue! Siggy uses landmarks to remember where he buries things like acorns. Elinor asks Ari if there were any landmarks he noticed when he was hiding the treasure. There were! Elinor, Olive, Ari, and Siggy make their way to each landmark and draw a map along the way to keep track of their route. Making a map was a great idea. They found their treasure, and they used their map to take them back to their pirate ship. A huge success!
Together with your child, explore your local neighborhood by taking a walk, riding a bike, or riding the bus from home to school. Encourage your child to talk about what they notice along the way. Ask your child questions about the different natural and human-made landmarks they see. These could be stores, libraries, road signs, parks, ponds, or playgrounds to name a few. When you’re back home, ask your child about what they remember about the things they saw. Then, work with them to draw a map of their route from home to school. Encourage your child to include both the human-made and natural landmarks they saw along the way.
Materials
Directions
After exploring your neighborhood and route to school with your child, help them draw a map of their route. Make sure your paper is large enough to draw all of the landmarks you’d like to include. Encourage your child to start drawing with a pencil so they can erase if needed.
Encourage your child to start the map by drawing their home. Then, help them think about where different landmarks are located from that point.
Ask your child to include three or four landmarks on their map. Help them think about what those landmarks should be by asking them about the places and things they saw on their way to school. Encourage them to include both human-made places such as buildings or playgrounds and natural landmarks such as trees or ponds.
Finally, draw your school! Ask your child if there are any other details they would like to include on their map. Would they like to add any flowers or trees that they saw? Would they like to add the name of their school and a label for their home and each landmark? Another option for drawing the map is to ask your child to draw the start and end points (home and school) and then fill in the landmarks along the route.
Once the map is complete, color it in! Try to match the colors so they are similar to the actual places and things on your route. That will help you and others recognize the landmarks again.
Explore Further
To explore more, try making a treasure map! Hide something in your house or yard and make a map to your treasure. Include different objects, rooms, or items that are in your house or yard on your map. Then, ask a friend to find your treasure using the map you made. You can also help them along the way. Do you think your friend will find your secret treasure?
Want more “Elinor Wonders Why” activities? Check out the Falling for Fun: Drop and Investigate experiment and the Observe With a DIY Magnifying Glass activity to continue the fun!
Author: 
Math