Posted on 01/03/2022
Whatever formal educational option you choose for your child - public school, private school, or home school - you as the parent are still your child's first and primary teacher! And there are some things that very few curriculums will include. Geography books tend to focus on the exotic and far-away places most of us rarely if ever see with our own eyes. But those aren't the only places - or even the most significant ones - in your child's life. As a girl from Kansas once said, "There's no place like home." And it's helpful for kids to get a sense of their place in the world. And there might not be a better time to teach these foundational mapping skills than when you're rearranging your child's bedroom or buying new bedroom furniture!
Getting a Sense of Scale
If you purchase your child's new bedroom furniture from The Bedroom Source, you'll be able to take advantage of our free measuring service. But even if you do ask us to participate in the process, your child will benefit from some measurement practice. Once you record the measurements, you can use graph paper, virtual graph paper, or even a free blueprint app. (For younger children, perhaps a checkered plastic tablecloth like the one shown here for this DIY hundreds chart would be a better choice.)
Whatever format you choose for your bedroom map, you'll want to be sure to make your map to scale - maybe with each block or inch on your grid equivalent to a foot; in reality, that would be a 1:12 scale. If you measure and represent furniture in some way, you could then try possible furniture arrangements. For an added tactile element, you could use blocks to create a 3D map of the room.
Book Ideas for Extending the Lesson
The book Me on the Map shows the progress from bedroom-level geography to globe-level geography. You can view a video of someone reading this book, here.
Another book that offers similar perspectives on size is Your Place in the Universe, which is also available via video. Through it you can adopt some interesting forms of measurement - like books and giraffes!
Continue reading with Part 2: Hands-on Map Skills.
The Bedroom Source
Located near the Roosevelt Field Mall on Long Island, The Bedroom Source is your source for the best collection of children's and teen bedroom furniture. From flexibly configurable Maxtrix furniture to fashionable American-made collections, The Bedroom Source offers high end furniture and professional design assistance to create the bedroom of your child's dreams.
Contact the friendly staff at The Bedroom Source by calling (516) 248-0600 or by submitting our online contact form. We're a local family owned mom & pop store. When you shop with us, you're dealing directly with the owners. We professionally assemble everything we sell. We deliver to Nassau, Suffolk, the 5 Boroughs, Southern Westchester, Southwestern Connecticut & Northern New Jersey.