Our Map Of Gainesville

We gave the children white crayons and asked them if they wanted to trace over the lines on a map of Gainesville. It started out as a fine motor experience and another opportunity to talk about maps, specifically our town. We recognized that the roads were lines on the map, and it also became another way to revisit the subject of lines.

We set out water color paints and the children painted the map with beautiful, bright colors. The roads stood out because the crayons under the paint "resisted" the water color paint, creating a cool effect.

When the paint was dry we set out glue and different colored yarns and the children measured and cut the yarn, and glued them on to the roads on the map.

We had conversations about how the roads "intersect" . We noticed that some roads were long, some short, some were straight and some were curvy. 

The next step was to find objects that could represent buildings in our town. We always have gems and color tiles and similar objects in jars on our shelves. We thought they would work great. We started a conversation about the different places in our town.

Little ceramic tiles became houses, gems became movie theaters, grocery stores and schools, bottle tops became libraries and restaurants.

This project turned out to be a perfect way to start talking about "community" and it was really fun as well! 

Look for it hanging in our red room.