Ingredients:

• Bulletin board
• Paper
• Markers
• Sticky notes
• Blocks (wooden or foam)
• Camera

Recipe for Playful Learning!

Explore the concept of maps as being a “bird’s eye view” of a town, city, state, or any other location.

STEP 1: On a large bulletin board, have your children use blocks to draw and outline different shapes of buildings, stores, homes that they would find in their town or city.

• Added challenge: See how many of the store names they can remember and have them write them down on sticky notes adjacent to the landmarks.

STEP 2: Next, have the children use markers to draw in highways, railroads, lakes, rivers, and streams, among other things.

• Added challenge: Explain the need for a “legend” or “key” and ask the children to create one to label their own map.

STEP 3: Take a picture of the finished creation from above to show the kids the “bird’s eye view” of the map from above.

Skills to Practice: Geography, Imagination, Comprehension, Writing