This blog entry is about fantastic, family-friendly ways to use our MapMaker Kits. Want to learn more about MapMaker Kits? Want to know what a MapMaker Kit is? Read through this blog entry or watch this video to find out!

You always need one when you least expect it. Like when your phone dies and you can’t look at the app. Or when the internet is down when you’re searching on Google. Sometimes a physical, in-your-hand, printed-out map is all you need.

Check out National Geographic Education’s MapMaker Kits to see what’s available to use when a map on a screen just won’t do. Like for that moment when you need to explain to your child your summer road-trip route. Or when you are trying to help your child to understand how big your state really is compared to a much smaller one.

Here are 5 ways you can use our printable tabletop maps this summer with your family:

1.  Family Coloring Session! Instead of jigsaw puzzles, print out a tabletop map and have each family color sections of it. Or parts of it. Have one child color just the rivers and lakes and another color just the mountain ranges.

2.  Take It Outside! Cut out state shapes and trace them with sidewalk chalk. Create a game of hopscotch and have the children call out the state names instead of numbers when they hop.

3.  Take It With You! Print out a poster-sized map to have with you on a long car ride. Ask your kids to trace your route and point out what’s coming up next. If you’re going on a really, really long ride, take multiple state posters with you or use a giant country map!

4.  Hang It At Backyard Barbecues! Kids can color the maps and then . . . you can use it to play Tape the City (or small towns)! Create city markers with construction paper and attach tape. Now you have a whole new spin on Pin the Tail on the Donkey!

5.  Track Your Travels! Hang a poster-sized map on your child’s wall, and let them add post-it notes with comments of likes and dislikes of where they’ve been!

For even more ideas, take a look at how other people are using MapMaker Kits!

How will YOU use MapMaker Kits? Tell us by leaving a comment!