Diamond Mom's Treasury
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Blog
  • Contact Me
  • Featured Resources Of The Month

Welcome To My Blog

header for Diamond Mom's Treasury of Teaching Resources

Teaching Mapping Skills To Kids

3/21/2021

0 Comments

 
Mapping skills are fun to teach and they are important skills for kids to learn. They will be skills that can be used throughout life for reading and interpreting maps, travel, navigation, and understanding the vastness of a country and the world.
learning about mapping

What are some of the different skills needed?

 There are many different elements to understand in mapping. Primary children are able to learn how to use grids, directions, legends, symbols, and scale. One of my favorite ways to teach using a grid and coordinates is to play Battleship. We didn't own the game, but my father used to draw out grids on paper and we would play the game. I used to have 4 or 5 sets of the game in my class, so it was a popular choice for free time.
playing battleship to practice using coordinates
Once they become familiar with using the grid, they can move on to identifying objects on a grid and writing down the coordinates. It is important to practice this until they are able to easily find items and also explain where they are. Children need to understand how the coordinates work and how to be able to locate spots on the grid. This can then be transferred to actual maps.
locating objects on a grid

Next Steps For Teaching Mapping Skills

Here are some of the next steps that I cover when teaching mapping skills.

Some of the materials and terminology and what they represent:
There are different ways to represent the world we live in. A globe is a sphere that represents the earth and shows the various continents and bodies of water. Paper drawings of places are called maps. There are many different types of maps.
Maps have symbols on them. These are pictures or shapes that represent real objects or places.

Legends are guides that show the symbols and explain what they are. Most maps have legends to help with identifying objects and places.

combining symbols and grids
Learning about symbols
Learning to understand directions and how to follow them is important if you want to make sure you are going the right way. A compass rose is used to show where to find north, east, south, west, and the places in between.

Learning about directions and a compass rose
Maps can be used for fun activities also. Imagine finding a treasure map and having to follow the directions to locate the treasure.

reading a map
Distance is another important thing to understand when learning mapping skills. In order to know how far away things are, a scale is used. For example, 1 inch could be 50 yards, or 2 cm could be 30 m.
learning about scale
Neighborhood maps are great for learning about areas where people live. Check out a few different types of neighborhoods and then maybe try to create one of your own.
It is a good way to practice using the skills learned in a practical way.

understanding a neighborhood map
People use maps to plan trips, travel to different locations, and find specific places. Some people use paper maps, and others use electronic devices. It is important to learn how to read maps and follow directions.
checking out city maps

A Freebie To Remember Different Skills

I created this little mapping skills booklet that explains many of the things written about here in kid friendly language. You can check it out here.
map skills booklet
Here are a couple of sample pages to check out.
sample page from map skills booklet
sample page from map skills booklet
sample page from map skills booklet
Well, there you have a basic outline of how I teach mapping skills to my students. If you are interested in getting some of the mapping resources pictured above to use in your classroom or for online teaching, check out my social studies section in my TeachersPayTeachers store.
For free resources, tips, and ideas, sign up for my newsletter.
newsletter sign up for Diamond Mom's Treasury to get tips and free resources just for subscribers
Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Diamond Mom headshot and logo

    About Me Charlene Sequeira

    I am a wife, mother of 4, grandmother of 9, and a retired primary and music teacher. I love working with kids and continue to volunteer at school and teach ukulele.

    Diamond Mom's Treasury logo
    Teachers Pay Teachers banner and link
    newsletter signup for Diamond Mom's Treasury

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Acts Of Kindness
    Art Project
    Assessments
    Back To School
    Canadian
    Christmas
    Classroom
    Classroom Management
    Classroom Resources
    Diy
    Family
    Freebies
    French Language
    Literacy
    Math
    Music
    Online Learning
    Reading
    Remembrance Day
    Science
    SEL
    Self Esteem
    Social Studies
    Special Days
    Summer
    Task Cards
    Teaching Tips
    Technology
    Thanksgiving
    Tips
    Veterans Day
    Winter
    Writing

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    September 2019
    June 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Blog
  • Contact Me
  • Featured Resources Of The Month