children – The Map Room

Map Projections for Babies

Jonathan Crowe — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 23:41:07 +0000

Late last year Dan Ford launched a Kickstarter to create a board book (i.e., a children’s book printed on paperboard) about map projections called Map Projections for Babies. Presumably intended to be in the same vein as other board books on surprisingly advanced science topics (Chris Ferrie has a whole series of them; Quantum Computing for Babies is a typical title), Map Projections for Babies “explains how we unwrap the round Earth to make flat maps. This guide for babies (and their loved ones) describes a complex concept in kid-friendly terms. […] This project began last year, when I was inspired threefold by my daughter’s curiosity, my love for maps, and a growing number of board books that condense complex concepts for babies.” The Kickstarter was successful, the book is now at the printing stage and is on track for delivery in April; additional orders will be accepted at some point. [Geography Realm]

Muse Magazine on Maps

Jonathan Crowe — Wed, 08 May 2019 14:40:24 +0000

Children’s science magazine Muse has dedicated almost its entire May/June 2019 issue to maps, with features on map projections (the new Equal Earth Projection is prominent), cartographers Marie Tharp and Tim Wallace, the Carta Marina, using maps in search and rescue, geocaching, and more. A lot of good stuff, accessible to young readers. The issue is not online, and not available yet via the back issues page, but it can be had via Apple News+ (which is how and where I saw it) or, presumably, on a newsstand somewhere. Subscriptions to Muse can be had via the publisher or Amazon.

Map Gifts for Children

Jonathan Crowe — Wed, 05 Dec 2018 19:10:48 +0000

On The Map Room’s Facebook page I was asked, in the context of this year’s gift guide, whether I had any suggestions for younger readers. All I could come up with was The Ultimate Mapping Guide for Kids. Writing in the Guardian, Vivien Godfrey of Stanfords does rather better than I did, providing a list of maps, books, games and puzzles for children. Very much British-focused. [WMS]

Planetary Maps for Children

Jonathan Crowe — Tue, 06 Feb 2018 00:17:01 +0000

Planetary Maps for Children is a collection of pictorial maps of several moons and planets of the Solar System (so far: Venus, Mars, the Moon, Io, Europa, Titan, and Pluto and Charon), aimed at younger map readers. The maps are vibrant and colourful, full of sight gags and “fabulous make-believe creatures” and other sight gags. They’re available in digital, poster and virtual globe formats and available in several languages; the whole thing is a project of the ICA’s Commission on Planetary Cartography. [via]

Children Map the World, Volume 4

Jonathan Crowe — Tue, 02 May 2017 22:34:41 +0000

So it turns out that the Children Map the World series, which collects entries from the Barbara Petchenik Children’s World Map Drawing Competition, is still a going concern: the fourth volume, which includes 50 maps drawn by children aged 5 to 15 for the 2015 competition plus another 50 maps from previous competitions, came out last month from Esri Press. Amazon. [Caitlin Dempsey]

Previously: Children Map the World: The Book; Children Map the World, Volume Two.

The Maps Cartographers Made as Kids

Jonathan Crowe — Sun, 26 Feb 2017 22:15:52 +0000

Maps made by children are interesting enough; maps made by children who went on to be professional cartographers—that’s something else altogether, as All Over the Map’s Betsy Mason shows. Because you know they all did that, when they were kids. (And no, before you ask, I don’t think any of my childhood cartography still survives.)

Previously: Children Map the World: The Book; Children Map the World, Volume Two; 19th-Century Children’s Maps.

Ultimate Mapping Guide for Kids

Jonathan Crowe — Thu, 06 Oct 2016 18:48:25 +0000

A book I was not previously aware of: Justin Miles’s Ultimate Mapping Guide for Kids. The British edition came out from QED Publishing last May, the North American edition from Firefly Books in August. “Readers will learn how to understand map symbols and legend, navigate without a compass, create their own maps, plan their own map-reading expedition, and even how to use their mapping skills on a geocaching adventure.”

Related: Map Books of 2016.

Why Children Still Need to Read Maps

Jonathan Crowe — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 14:01:11 +0000

“While many skills have become obsolete in the digital age, map reading remains an important tool for building children’s spatial reasoning skills and helping them make sense of our world,” writes Deborah Farmer Kris on the PBS Parents website. [via]

19th-Century Children’s Maps

Jonathan Crowe — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 20:46:59 +0000

“In the 18th and 19th centuries, children were taught geography by making their own maps, usually copies of maps available to them in books and atlases at their schools or homes,” says a David Rumsey Collection post from January 2010 that is for some reason drawing attention right now. “These old maps made by children were hand drawn and colored, one-of-a-kind productions, and it is amazing that any have survived down to our time. That they have is due to luck and the efforts of families to preserve the history of their children.” Anyone interested in hand-drawn maps will like these; for my part I can’t get over the similarity in style between these maps and later fantasy maps. Via io9 and MetaFilter.