Draw a cute map for your child

 

 

 

 

 

This Project took about 3 hours+.

 

Let your child learn how to read a map. Who knows, he may even find his own way home if he ever get lost. Let him familiarize with the neighbourhood too and build his confidence.

 

Recently I realize my 3.5years old son has been drawing some lines on paper (more like spider webs) and explain to me that it's a map. He would also explain on how to get to grandma’s house and to our home by directing his fingers through the lines. I have to admit that without his explanation, I am easily lost! So I thought of drawing him a real map. I mean digitally and using just Microsoft Power Point. It is a simple sketch (you do not need to be a pro) but it will turn out so cute with some cartoon of iconic places he knows.

The key is starting the map off from places he frequently goes… places he can easily relate to.  Especially places near home. I have a few places in mind before I start:

- Home
- Grandma’s House
- School
- Shopping Mall
- Market
- MRT Station
- Bus Interchange
- Parks
- Community Centre
- Drive-Thru McDonald’s

Find a map that covers the area as shown above. I use the StreeDirectory.com. You can use other map if you like. Print Screen and paste it onto the PowerPoint.

 

Start tracing the little area out and leave the road untouched. I am using the FreeForm icon to draw these areas as shown in red. Fill the color as "Transparent" and border as "red" for easy identification.

Also draw an overall area using the FreeForm icon. Delete the original map and color the overall area Grey as road, moved it to the background. Color other small little area land in any color you like (I color it light Green).  In additional, I also trace out the schools in Yellow, Park in Green and River/Reservoir in Blue.

 

Next I drew the iconic places out (as listed earlier). Basically just follow the rule of such 3D sketches where the top portion of the building is always bigger than the bottom/base. Joint them up with lines. Alignment do not have to be perfect, the irregularity makes it unique and fun. Do pay particular note on the building colors and any design that catches your eye. Include those features into your building drawing to make it look alike. *Tips: take a picture of the building to help you draw better.

 

 

 

Copy and paste your iconic places/building onto the map. You may want to scale it to fit the area where you place. It should be scaled larger than its originated size on the map, inorder for it to stand out.

I also include a compass with North pointing the correct direction. Finally scale your map to fit A4 paper size and print it out. You may also want to laminate it. Now my son is having lots of fun with it.  When you child is familiar with this, you may want to draw a bigger map that reflect more places and further away. Eg. A Signapore map?

Hope you like this idea.