8.15.2013

maps, tot school and maps.com

I had posted a few posts ago about swapping postcards as part of our tot school curriculum. Ethan is all about the city we live in, but I thought it would be even more fun to explore geography and this vast world around us in a way that Ethan, at two years old, can both understand and find fun. By swapping postcards with those around the world, Ethan looks forward to checking the mail each day and seeing where he's received a postcard from. I thought it would be one step further into a fun learning experience to be able to map the places our postcards come from on a map.

Maps.com was wonderful enough to send Ethan and I this Rand McNally USA and World Map set for our tot school classroom. I loved this map set in particular because the size fit beautifully amongst the back wall of our tot school classroom and because the colors are just perfect. This map set has great detail, but not too much detail where it is too busy and cluttered for Ethan to follow. The colors are bright and fun for little ones to want to focus on and the maps definitely look pretty great in our tot school room.

Maps.com isn't limited to our beautiful new Rand McNally USA and World Map set, however. They have globes, atlases, travel maps, world maps, wall maps, USA maps -- even puzzles and digital maps as well as custom radius maps! They even offer the option for maps to be laminated, come in your choice of small or large sizes and even offer mounting boards or rollers. I think I spent a solid two hours browsing everything Maps.com has to offer on their classroom maps page before settling on our beautiful world and USA map set. If your classroom is home to older children, you can also find many other more detailed maps that focus less on boundaries and borders and more on terrain and detail (there are some great flag maps, too!).

As our postcards continue to come in from around the world, we are using Post-It strips to document where we've been receiving them from.

Our postcard project is still in it's early stages but we are having a blast swapping, collecting and marking on our beautiful new map set. Our maps are the paper finish and even so are extremely durable. When fastened to the wall, they do not bend or crease and are printed on a heavy duty paper that is likely to last for quite some time. Even when Ethan finishes our postcard project or one day ages out of tot school, these maps will be an asset to our home. My father travels a lot for work and these maps are a wonderful way for Ethan to understand and see all of the great places where his Grandpa goes. It is also a great way for him to understand where his out of state friends and family live. So far, Ethan is mostly excited that he got to send a postcard to another two year old little boy in Germany, and it was a lot of fun to show him just where Germany is on a map in comparison to where he is here in Florida.

If you can't tell, I'm a little bit in love with our new classroom wall maps!

SAVE 10%: Maps.com has generously offered my readers the chance to save 10% off your purchase! Simply enter promo code Roots10 to save!

I received these wall maps from Maps.com to facilitate a product review. No compensation was provided and all opinions expressed are completely and totally my own.

9 comments:

  1. Omg I'm so jealous!!! I'm obsessed with maps. :)

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  2. Thank you for this post (and the discount)! We just moved, and I have a playroom/classroom ready to go for my daughter. She is all about the places we have moved and where her friends are living. I told her we would get a map and start learning about the different places. This is exactly what I was looking for.

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  3. I LOVE the idea of the maps in your tot school room - it gives little ones an important global perspective. Thanks for the discount code too!

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  4. Wonderful idea with the post its! We love our map :) We are anxiously awaiting our first post card soon :) I think we will do the post-it on our maps as well!

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  5. Your blog is my favorite.
    We would love to exchange postcards with Ethan.

    Julie
    zisforzack.blogspot.com

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    1. Aww, thank you so much, Julie! We would LOVE to swap with you!!! <3

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  6. Oh I just love the look of maps on the wall!! These are beautiful! I have one that is perfect for my daughter's school/play room so we'll be laminating that and putting it up for her to explore the world :-) I'll have to check out this site too though x

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  7. This is great. My love for maps started as a kid, partly because of great parents and partly because of how much information can be gained from something so simple and aesthetically pleasing. Great post!

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