Family Activity: Kindergarten through Fourth Grade

Travel Destinations

One way to draw your family into the adventure of geography is to spark conversation about favorite places—those you’ve seen, those you hope to.

1. Ask your children where in the country or the world they’d like to travel. How did they hear about these places? Why do they think these would be good places to visit?

2. Show your kids pictures of places you’ve visited and tell them about what you saw. Try to think of places that you’ve visited but they haven’t. They don’t have to be faraway destinations; you can refer to a local lake, a nearby town, or another attraction that your children haven’t yet had a chance to visit.

3. Ask if the kids know anything about the places you’re discussing. What preconceived ideas do they have? Do they know where these places are located? Encourage them to ask you questions about these places and share your memories. Describe the landscape, plants and animals, people, and special experiences you had when you were there.

4. Ask your children to go back to their classrooms and look for the places you’ve mentioned on the National Geographic political and physical maps. Are the places visible on both maps? Are they labeled on the political map? Can you think of reasons why or why not? What do the regions in which these places are located look like on the physical map? What colors are they on the map, and what physical features, such as mountains or deserts, can be found in their vicinity?

5. Also ask your children to search the classroom map for the places that they would most like to visit. Are these places labeled on the political map? What physical features are visible near these places on the physical map? What direction would they need to travel in order to get to these places, and does it look as if it would be a long trip or a short one?

6. When your children return home after looking at the maps at school, help them find more information about the places that they would like to visit. Check out National Geographic Online’s Map Machine and the easy-to-print maps in our Xpeditions atlas. See what else you can find on the Internet. A good place to start is Yahoo!’s regional directory: http://www.yahoo.com/regional. If your children like to draw or write, ask them to create pictures or stories about their desired travel destinations.

7. You might want to help the kids figure out how they’d actually get there. If they live in the United States, they can map the route at MapQuest’s Web site (http://www.mapquest.com). They can also think about the things they’d need to take on the trip. If the destination is close to home or happens to be someplace that you’re already planning to visit, all the better. Your family will have a far better appreciation for the destination.

Betsy Hedberg of Curriculum Adventures wrote classroom ideas and family activities for the National Geographic Society’s World Map Giveaway. The American Plastics Council, Kodak, State Farm Insurance, and Subaru of America sponsored the Map Giveaway.

For other great teaching resources, visit
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/education.