All About Maps

We started off our new unit on transportation by learning about maps.  I'm pretty sure most kids these days haven't seen a paper map since everyone uses GPS on their phones but it's an important skill to have and made for some fun learning.

Both girls adored the new song of the day so we sang "Do You Know How to Read a Map" about 15 times while they took turns finding things on our world map.  I recently read an article on Time.com about an Australian study that found playing with music, changing words to familiar songs, etc...can have a bigger effect on children's academic and social/behavioral development than shared reading time with parents.  The Mother Goose Time curriculum gives you a new song every day relating to the curriculum that utilizes a familiar tune (like "The Muffin Man" or "Wheels on the Bus"), which is a great way to put this research into practice.  I even found it useful throughout the day to sing what I wanted Miss M to do to the tune of "The Muffin Man" and she cooperated much more readily and cheerfully than if I was simply asking her and would do her best to answer back using the same pattern.

After practicing our first number of the month (5) and looking for the letters in the word STOP on our calendar display (I accidentally did one of the activities from Day 2 because I got a little confused by the girls loved it and it never hurts to practice) we headed to the kitchen for art/fine motor practice.  The road map project was really fun but it ended up taking the majority of our time.  It was a great way for the girls to cut some good cutting practice in, though.  I drew lines on the paper for them to follow and then they designed their maps.  The included signs were too curvy for them to cut out without completely destroying so I did those but they put them on the straws and in the bases.  They had a lot of fun with it.  

I am a huge fan of Shutterfly and make books almost every two months (sometimes more often), leading me to get lots of freebie offers via email.  A couple months ago I had an offer to make a free placemat so I had this little road map made.  It's perfect for using with our signs and is bigger than the maps the girls made so two can play at once.  It is a big hit.

We taped off some roads in the living room and played the Traffic Game.  I played music from the CD on my phone while the girls zoomed around.  Every now and then I'd stop the music and draw a card for each one.  They could continue on their way if they got the sun, move slowly around the streets until the music stopped again or have to wait for a specified number of seconds if they were involved in a traffic incident.  It was a great way to practice counting past ten and they had so much fun we didn't even get to snack time before it was time for our friend to go home.  Miss M and Littlest wanted to keep playing after she left.  Four days later, the tape is still on the rug because it was so popular.