At the beginning of a school year, before diving into a study of a continent and it’s countries, we draw a large (blank) map of the continent. Over the course of the year we add geographical landmarks to our map as we study them.

During the school year we do map questions and map drills to instill the image in a child’s mind. We do map questions or map drills (if you’re not sure what these are, make sure you watch the recorded lessons) once a week, and the second day of the week we read a book about the country or watch a documentary.

Here are the supplies you’ll need:

• Canson Mixed Media 18×24 paper
• Fine-Tipped Markers
• Mapping the World With Art
• Watercolors and brushes (optional)
• The Drawing Textbook (optional, for reference)

First, my boys follow the instructions of how to draw the country’s shape using the map making book. This usually takes 30+ minutes and takes up our entire lesson time of that day.

We reference the Drawing Textbook for things like compass rose, banners, scrolls, etc. There are many things from this book you can use for map making lessons and personalization at the end of the year.

On Tuesdays (our map drills and map making day) we alternate between map making and map drills. So one week we’ll study a map of an area/region and I’ll ask questions, the next week my boys will either fill in a blank map (once I’ve printed out from Seterra.com) or they’ll spend time adding landmarks to their large hand-drawn maps.

By the end of the year their maps are almost complete, they just need to add color and some final touches. As a final project my kids are “encouraged” to personalize their map with watercolors, flags, culture landmarks like World Heritage Sites,native flora and fauna, and any other things they find fascinating about that country. We love the book Maps by Aleksandra Mizielinska, if you need some inspiration.

LESSON EXAMPLE