Story Map Build

Your child builds a simple map on the floor out of paper, cushions, or blocks, then walks a small character figure through it while telling the story of what happens at each place.

How to do it

1. Ask your child to imagine a story with a few different places in it, such as a forest, a castle, and a river.
2. Help them lay out those places on the floor using paper sheets, cushions, blocks, or drawn signs.
3. Let them pick a small figure or toy to be the main character who will travel the map.
4. Have them move the character from place to place, telling out loud what happens at each stop.
5. When the journey ends, invite them to add a new place or change the ending and run the story again.

What you need

• Paper
• Figure
• Crayons

Make it yours

Younger, 5-6 years: Use two places only and let the story be very short. Older, 8-10 years: Add a problem to solve at each place, or draw a proper labelled map on one big sheet instead of using the floor. Siblings: Each child controls a character and they meet somewhere on the map.