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Children's early maps

Maps children choose to make for personal reasons. Their maps have personal meaning, enabling them to explore their thinking about location and direction, space, position, distance and size.

 

Tiyanni (3 years, 2 months) was in the garden,

looking a world map in an old diary. Melanie (one of

the practitioners) talked about the time when

Tiyanni went to Jamaica, and pointed out Jamaica

on the map. Tiyanni said "That's where my Grandma and Grandad is."

    Melanie talked abut the beach in Jamaica

and picking up a blue pen, Tiyanni made

some marks and said, "This is swimming."

    Rather than making a map, her discussion of

the map with Melanie triggered Tiyanni's

memories of her grandparents, and swimming

at the beach.

Dan (3 years, 7 months) drew a series of

ascending horizontal lines, adding some

curving lines and dots. He explained,

"Look at my track. It's for the train. We

went on a train to Cardiff." Then pointing

to one of the lines he announced, "Look,

there's Cardiff."

From his father's interest, Isaac (4 years,

1 month)had developed a fascination with maps,

and at home his father had put some old, framed

maps on the walls. Isaac decided to draw his own

map for the wall, explaining it as showing the route

they drove from home to the nursery. Isaac lives in

a large city and sometimes the route must have

seemed lengthy circuitous! Pointing to a place on

the map he explained, "And that's my nursery."

     Isaac was very interested in location and

direction and understood how to use a compass.

Visiting the forest on another day, Isaac told

an adult, “I think we’re going west […] That

way is south”. Then concerned that they might

be lost, Isaac asked, “Are we north or

south? This is a mystery path! I don’t want to go

south – it will go to Africa and my bedtime’s at six o’clock”. 

   

 

   

Max (4 years, 2 months) drew the location of

"Yoda's house" (Yoda is a character from the

film "Star Wars"). He has shown a route

indicating how to get to the house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert (4 years, 9 months) has imagined a

car driven on a mountain route, the same car ascending each peak!

 Caitlin (5 years, 8 months) drew a detailed

map of the village where she lives, including

a roundabout, "the two hills", the village hall

and "my old house". In the distance she drew

the beach and the airport.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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