Cartographer's Toolkit

Kindergartners don’t know a lot about maps. Indeed, most mapping related concepts are much too difficult for them to comprehend. I don’t find that maps are too abstract for them, instead, I find that the kids apply such a force of imagination to maps that their interpretations are much too distorted.

That said, it is still important for them to know the general ideas behind a map: what forms it can take, whether on your car’s GPS unit or your computer or on a folded-up piece of paper and what it does (in most simplistic terms such as “helps you find places”). This can certainly be done. To provide this simple introduction to maps, I chose to read There’s a Map on My Lap! during a recent stint as a mystery reader for my child’s kindergarten classroom.

I’m going to cavil a bit here:

A few of the lines
Don’t have good rhymes.

A bigger problem, at least for this situation, is that the book is geared more toward a 1st or 2nd grader comprehension level. To remedy this I simply skipped over a few of the harder pages such as the explanation of directions and how to use a location grid. For first and second graders those would be good concepts to introduce, though.

I brought a globe with me and was heartened when I asked if anybody knew what it was. About half the class piped right up with, “it’s a globe!”

I brought along my GIS Cartography book and explained how I’m the author of a book on making maps. They passed it around and were absolutely fascinated by the pictures in it, even though I can’t imagine they knew what it was all about. In fact, I had to wait about 5 minutes to let them finish looking at it before I could leave. Overall, I’d call this short intro to maps for 5 and 6 year olds a mild success.

If I had had more time I would have done more. Some other ideas are: peel an orange in one piece then flatten the peel to show how a globe gets flattened onto a piece of paper (this is illustrated in the book); make a very simple map of the school and 2 or 3 roads around it to discuss; explain how 911 uses maps to help emergency personnel get to their destinations; read an adventure book (we love The Adventures of Marco and Polo) and then show where the characters went on a map; and if you have access to mapping software put the simple school map on the display and let the kids choose colors and symbols for it. If you have any other great ideas please share them with us!