My son has a great memory and sense of direction so this was a fun way to talk about all the places he remembers how to get too. We drew many landmarks that I had no idea he would remember. We've also done this with a U.S. map to show where our relatives live and then talked about whether we'd have to take a plane or a car.

- Posted on Jun 14, 2007

My son loves to look at maps, but he can't read the words yet. This map with pictures would give him so much confidence as a beginning reader.

- Posted on Jun 25, 2007

My daughter (nearly three) is already asking me the names of streets, and where exactly things like the library and the grocery store are. I think she would enjoy this creative way of mapping things out. Also, this is a good introduction to how to read maps, signs and symbols, etc.

- Posted on Jul 19, 2007

My son loves his map!

- Posted on Aug 28, 2007

I work for a nonprofit (KaBOOM!) helps communities build playspaces (playgrounds/sports fields/green areas/skateparks/ice rinks, etc.). The idea is that kids need more safe and fun (the fun part is important in our litigious society) places to play. One of the things we are trying to do is to find and rate all of the playspaces in the U.S. It's a huge job that no one group can do... so we're asking everyone to tell us about the playspaces in their own communities. We're using on online tool we call the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder (www.kaboom.org/playspacefinder). We ask people to put in address, what's there in terms of equipment and other amenities, upload their own photos, rate the playspace on a scale of 1-5 and then write out a comment. What's fun about it is that this is something that you can do *with* your kids (without all of the liabilities and restrictions you'll find with a lot of other volunteer opportunities). In addition to supporting what the Neighborhood Map activity, it teaches kids to start to look at the world around them and think about what's good or bad about it. Playspaces are a good way to start because every kid has an opinion about a playspace. Eventually, we're hoping the Playspace Finder will become a resource for communities to identify where there need to be more (or better) playspaces for their kids.

- Posted on Jan 9, 2008