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Creating Treasure Maps

© Beverley Paine, August 2007

[this article forms part of a series on Geography you can buy as a Practical Homeschooling booklet from Always Learning Books]

This is an activity for one of those days when the children are pestering you for something to do, or they have run out of ideas.

Ask the children to imagine the backyard or area nearby and try to draw a map of it. To spark their interest, tell them that they're drawing a treasure map. If it helps, place them in front of the window or send them outside to draw details like rocks, trees, bushes and key markers on the map. Once they have completed drawing the map they must decide where they would put a treasure.

Have them draw a map key that labels bushes, roads, trees, rocks, logs and other details in the area. They can have directions on how to find the treasure by how many paces (steps) and what direction to go next. Instruct them as to what direction north, south, east and west is at your location.

Once they have completed this task give them some type of treasure to hide like twenty cent pieces, or peanuts in their shells, etc. This activity will teach about their surroundings, how to plot out maps and how to communicate to others what there trying to express.

Later show them different types of maps such as a road  map, state map, amusement park map, biblical maps, and property survey map. Talk about people that use maps and explorers and settlers that had no maps at all.

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The information on this website is of a general nature only and is not intended as personal or professional advice. This site merges and incorporates 'Homeschool Australia' and 'Unschool Australia'.

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