Draw My Room to Scale

Your child measures their room and the furniture in it, then draws a simple map where everything is shrunk down by the same amount so it fits on paper.

How to do it

1. Help your child measure the length and width of the room and write the numbers down.
2. Agree on a simple shrinking rule together, such as one big step or one metre on the floor becoming one square on grid paper.
3. Have them draw the outline of the room to that rule, then measure and add the big pieces of furniture the same way.
4. Let them label each item and add a small key showing what the shrinking rule was.
5. Stand in the room with the finished map and check that things are in the right places relative to each other.

What you need

• Grid paper
• Pencil and ruler
• Tape measure

Make it yours

Younger, 6 to 8 years: Map just the room outline and the bed, and count steps instead of using a tape measure. Older, 10 to 12 years: Use a proper scale such as one square equals half a metre, and add doors and windows. Dream-redesign, open-ended: Once the scale map is drawn, cut the furniture out as little scale pieces and let your child rearrange the room however they imagine, trying layouts that would not fit in real life and explaining their dream setup. There is no right answer here; the measuring becomes the tool for their own design, which they can show the family. Siblings: Each maps their own space, or they map a shared room together and compare