We explored a variety of maps in my classroom. The goal of our mapping explorations was simply to compare different kinds of maps and what kinds of things can be found on a map like lines, colors, words, directions, land, sea, roads, and places. You can read about our simple introduction to maps on this post: Simple Exploration of Maps in Preschool.
For a creative way to explore our maps, we invited the children to cut up an old atlas and make their own map collages on scrap cardboard.
To begin the process, the children flipped through the atlas until they found a page they wanted to cut into pieces like a puzzle.
Maps provide lots of opportunity to try your hand at cutting on lines because there are so many lines to choose from!
Once the children had a few map shapes cut out and ready to go, they were invited to hop on over to the gluing table to glue their shapes on a piece of scrap cardboard…
Each child made his or her own decision on how they would like to create their cardboard map collage.
The children were welcomed to go back and cut more pieces if they desired to do so.
A very simple activity that gave us the opportunity to explore maps a little more closely and be creative in the process!
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Links to Grow On
Check out: Making our own Maps in Preschool
and Silhouette Maps by No Time for Flashcards