Creating Zoo Maps
Some of the most coveted "souvenirs" in our house are the maps we bring home from places we visit, especially ones from the zoo and Disneyland. My girls will look at these again and again, remembering things we saw, tracing their fingers on the little paths. I think this type of "real-world" reading (also called environmental print) is such an important part of literacy and reading development, which is why I also save children's menus from restaurants, brochures, etc.
I thought it would be fun to learn more about maps and make our own. I decided to start with zoo maps. We have a full-color one from our local zoo, plus I printed about 5 more from various zoo websites. The National Zoo, San Diego Zoo, and Oregon Zoo had nice printable maps.
Then it was time to get to work. We used large sheets of easel paper for our maps. Natalie drew her entrance & exit first, followed by all sorts of paths. Then she filled in with her animals and other attractions. Delaney started with a bus that brings everyone to the zoo, then added her animals, and finally connected them with a path.
They worked on these for close to an hour. I added labels or words if they wanted. Natalie drew a rectangle with a P on top to show all the "potties" in her zoo. She also put in a food court, a fountain, a farm animal petting zoo, and a place called "Kids Explore," which is some sort of fantastic kids' play area.
Delaney's zoo had an armadillo, an octopus, a tiger, two bunnies, a pig, and a flamingo.
Of course, the fun is not over, because now they want to use toy animals to create these fantastic zoos. I can't wait to visit!
I'm sure we will revisit map making soon -- maybe we'll make our own Disneyland!
Happy playing!
What a fabulous idea! BTW, I linked to one of your ideas today in my post: http://funmajors.blogspot.com/2008/06/bam-on-ice.html
Posted by: Julie | June 05, 2008 at 05:07 PM
I love this idea! We'll try it this weekend. Thanks so much for sharing.
Posted by: Julie K in Taiwan | June 05, 2008 at 07:26 PM
absolutely LOVE this idea! love the blog...
Posted by: Melissa | June 10, 2008 at 02:58 PM
I just did this with my two boys and they really enjoyed. My oldest drew all sorts of animals and my youngest used stickers for all of the animals. Both were different from each other, but they both included a train which is their favorite part of our local zoo. Thanks for the great idea!!
Posted by: Julie | June 17, 2008 at 06:08 PM
found you via crafty crow. love this!
Posted by: Elizabeth | June 18, 2008 at 06:21 AM
We are totally doing this- thank you for the excellent idea!
Posted by: Amy | June 18, 2008 at 08:28 AM
We are totally doing this- thank you for the excellent idea!
Posted by: Amy | June 18, 2008 at 08:29 AM
Great idea! Thank you for posting about it.
I did a little post about it too, and I'll do a second one with pics of our maps when they are completed.
here is a link for you:
http://canadianhomelearning.blogspot.com/2008/06/creating-our-own-zoo-map.html
Thanks again!
Posted by: Alex | June 19, 2008 at 06:15 AM
What a fabulous idea! We'll definitely have to try this out. We have drawn our own pirate treasure maps before, but this sounds great!
Posted by: Angie @ Many Little Blessings | June 23, 2008 at 11:11 AM
How creative! I love this idea and can't wait to try it with my 2 y/o. Taking it to the next level with our Schleich plastic animals and FP little people would be a great next step.
http://psychmamma.wordpress.com
Posted by: PsychMamma | June 26, 2008 at 05:26 AM