Map Work

My children very much enjoy working with maps, and drawing them benefits them greatly in understanding history, terrain, culture and of course scale. It's a wonderful way to combine art and mathematics, and careful, diligent work is rewarded with a beautiful product.

Here are some examples from my seven year old.

This one may not look like anything special, but it is a map of our area. Specifically, if you began at our home, all of the signs, turns, and topography (such as bumpy lines for a dirt road) make complete sense in getting the driver into town. I was pretty impressed!

Just like the one above, this one was made on her own accord. She had pulled out one of the cottage landscaping books from the library, and planned out her dream garden.

Lastly, this is an example from our Bible study of Genesis. This assignment came from a book that makes learning about Genesis even more interesting than it already is. I love that all sorts of reasoning and apologetic questions are throughout its pages:

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In this assignment from Genesis, we not only mapped out where places were/are (and discussed possible migration routes), but we took the time with colored pencils to correctly color the topography.

If you are interested in teaching (or learning) how to hand draw maps, you might like checking out this book written in 1869. You can find a free pdf of it here.

Blessings,