ABSTRACT
For children up to the age of about 7 years there should be a strong emphasis on practical activities that establish prerequisite concepts for map understanding. This includes direct experience of their local environment (and indirect experience of more distant ones), language development and representational play. Children should, for example, be able to identify and name common features in the natural and built environment. They should have safe opportunities to do this through first hand observation as well as through use of photographs and models. They should be able to use locational language to describe topological relationships such as ‘next to’ and ‘opposite’. Representational play using blocks and models will be a key element of children’s experience in order to develop the perspective of a ‘view from above’. Tasks will include matching, sorting and completing sets. Maps in this phase should have simple outlines with strong key lines, require limited reading ability and will include large scale plans of the classroom and school.
