Crafts for Kids: Get to Know Your Neighborhood with a DIY Map

Providing lots of experiences with meaningful engagement is a major element in the recipe for a deep and lasting relationship with your kids.

This activity does not have to be complicated. Crafts for kids can often be overwhelming if you’re not already a crafty person. If this lasts 10 minutes, great! If it occupies an hour, fabulous!

Of the many crafts for kids ideas you can find online, this one is much less about the craft (the map) as it is about the conversation you have with your child while creating it.

The most important part for you as a parent is to maximize your engagement with your kids before, during, and after the actual map of your street and/or neighborhood is made.

1. Look at maps you have at home or online for inspiration before and after your walk.
2. Before you leave home, help your child draw a basic outline map of your street from memory. Include buildings, streets, and general landmarks. Identify your own home for reference.
3. Think about what kind of map you’d like to make. A map of street signs? Homes with black cars? Specific trees? Yards with colorful flowers?
4. Add notes and details to your map as you observe them on your walk. Take pictures for reminders if desired.
5. At home, enhance your map with colored pencils, stickers, etc. Older children may want to draw a fresh map on larger paper and glue down printed photos or make a collage.

1. Explain basic elements of reading a map, including how to find where you are to orient yourself, what a compass rose is, and how to read a legend and understand symbols used for different items.
2. See if you can take turns coming up with places you might use maps (even though most of us use GPS for driving directions). For example, at shopping centers, inside office buildings, at amusement parks, public transit stations, when you’re traveling, etc.
3. Share about paper maps like the Thomas Guide and generally what it was like before we had Waze, Google Maps, and GPS in our cars.
4. With older kids, explore Google Earth online and discuss what GPS is and how satellites take pictures of our earth and can make incredibly detailed maps.
5. Read a pirate adventure story, and explain the phrase “X marks the spot!”
6. Who did you meet on your walk around the neighborhood?
7. Did you notice anything different than when you’re driving in the car?
8. What is a topographer? How is it different than a cartographer?