Your Montessori Preschool Chatsworth student will thrive on simple and exciting map activities. In keeping with the Montessori philosophy of teaching the whole child, map activities combine physical and mental exercises that teach your child valuable skills as she plays. 1. Maps and Structure
Introducing the stability of maps in our lives is an ideal way to acquaint your preschooler with maps. Patterns and structure are important to preschool children. As they explore a world that seems to get larger by the day, young kids look for familiar traits and landmarks to help them stay focused. Early maps can be used to specify a pattern, such as how to set a place setting at the dinner table. Making and following maps of everyday activities helps children absorb the importance of making maps for a variety of purposes and shows them how symbols can represent real objects. 2. Mapping Our Surroundings After learning that maps help us find order in the world, children are ready to draw some maps of their own. Just as your preschooler’s world began in the home and expanded to the larger world outside, drawing maps of familiar places reinforce the purpose of mapping. Start her out by learning to draw a map of her room, for example, and then step up to a map of the home, maps of the neighborhood, and so on. This approach has the added benefit of providing perspective to your child’s own expanding world, showing her that each new discovery adds a new level of information to her experience. 3. Treasure Maps Having learned about the importance of maps and where to find things, children are ready to take the creative plunge and make some treasure maps of their own. Let ‘X’ mark the spot of a favorite toy or book, and the game begins with drawing a map to show where the item is hidden and then following the clues of the map to actually get there. This game can be revisited for years to come in the form of treasure hunts and maps of ever-increasing complexity. From a simple drawing to show where to put the plate and fork, to advanced maps showing the path to hidden locations, learning to understand and implement maps provides endless opportunities for play-based learning on many levels. Fine motor skills, spatial perspective, object recognition, and academic skills like math and writing are all educational benefits that come from easy map activities you can do with your preschooler. Comments are closed.
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