When I was a kid I had a map of United States on my wall. I used to study the map all the time. We used to travel by train, and I would take my map of United States with me. I would use a marker on the map to show our progress. One time, on a trip to New York City, I marked my map of United States incorrectly. This was a very sad day for me as I couldn't un-do my mark-up. But over time I got more maps. Finally, in college, the most amazing thing happened. The geography department moved from an old building into a more modern facility. My roommates (also map lovers) and I couldn't believe our eyes when we saw them carrying hundreds of wall-sized lecture hall maps to the dumpster. I grabbed a couple different map of the united states from the garbage and hung them in my dorm room. Later, they went up in our group house (nearly fraternity). Man did that map of united states look cool at parties with the black light on it. I digress. In summary, I think a map of United States is essential for any kid.

I think every kid should have ready access to maps. It is really quite sad how many young people can't find simple landmarks on a map today. This is really a statement about our educational system. One way to take action is to encourage excitement about exploration at a very early age. Make sure that your child has a world globe and a good size map. I recommend that it be of the world, but a map of the united states is okay as well. The main goal is to get them engaged with the idea of understanding how they find into this big world. A map will help their imagination run wild about all the places out there that they could visit. This will get them to wonder about geography naturally, which is exactly what you want. Encourage this. Talk about it. Perhaps watch some discovery or public tv specials on different places and then put pins in the map to show where in the world those places are. You will find that it's fun and helps drive educational values really easily.