Imaginary Map Design
For Aspiring
Writers, Homeschooling, Individuals, Boredom Buster, or
a Classroom Activity.
Subject Areas
that can be incorporated with this activity: Geography,
History, Science, Art, and Writing.
Some of the
most fantastic stories ever told were told with maps
that held a visual idea of the world mentioned in that
story. This can be a great FUN project for any child or
children that can draw or cut and paste. For children
who are aspiring writers or also willing to create a
story to go with the map, this is a great exercise to
prepare for your story.
Items
needed:
(Doesn’t have to be map size and
can be printer paper).
- Pencil
- Colored
Pencils or Markers.
-
Imagination
Begin the
Map.
Start with an
empty sheet of paper. You can begin anywhere or you can
add a texture to give you some background filler.
Background filler:
To
get your back ground filler you or the child can find
an irregular surface. Place the paper over the surface
and use your pencil to make a rubbing of the surface.
This works best with plastered walls (although be
careful to stay on the paper or you will mark the
walls) or rough surfaces. Be careful not to push down
too hard with your pencil or you can rip the paper.
For a large group of children or young children, you
can have this process done and pass out the rubbings
to begin drawing your maps. Hint: Make a rubbing and
then copy it for a faster turnaround or make a
different rubbing for each child by adding elements
like rice, sand, sugar, etc. to place the paper and
then rub over. Be sure to add only trace amounts.
Rubbings taken from large rocks work well too since
they usually have irregular shapes.
Next locate the best area(s) on the paper that look
like lakes or oceans or rivers, be sure to use your
imagination. These can be large and take up over half
the paper or small little lakes scattered across the
paper. Color in with blue so they can be easily
recognizable. You can also suggest erasing the rubbing
or pencil on the inside of the bodies of water before
coloring as this will make a much better effect.
Add
Images.
Add
images to your map such as houses, hay fields, grass,
mountains, castles, rocks, hills, swamps, birds, and
more! Imagination is the whole process of this. To
learn how to make some of these objects, please refer
to the section below of the Map Key. Find places on
the map to draw in these items. Perhaps a forest next
to a field of grass? Or perhaps a hayfield next to a
village of houses. The effects look more realistic if
you also add them in 3 dimensions.
Hint: For those who don’t like to
draw, are younger, or those with time limits, consider
making a list of what needs to be added to the Maps
beforehand, preparing the rubbings beforehand, and/or
creating cut and paste objects for the maps. This will
save precious time and also make a requirement of what
needs to be added so that the child has a sense of
direction or a need to accomplish a set task. Younger
children will delight at the decisions of placement
rather than specific drawing skills that might be above
them.
Hint: For those who are older, try
making this a more detailed Map, strict guidelines to
follow, time limits, and also try listing the guidelines
by word of mouth so that the older child has to prepare
the map from memory.
Label Areas
on the Map.
This is a fun step in the
process of creating the Map. Here you can label or title
each of the places that should stand out to your
readers. Places such as Mountains, Castles, Rivers,
Lakes, Forests, Villages, Towns, etc. Below I have
listed various names that you can use as examples for
your Areas on your maps.
·
Castles
o
Castle
Irnatat
o
Fignary
Castle
o
Forte Birch
o
Moat of Iven
the Great
·
Rivers,
Streams, Brooks, Lakes, etc.
o
River Thatch
o
Hasten River
o
Twists of
Loreto Branch
o
Stream of Jax
Beach
o
Little Fern
Brook
o
Lake Terin
o
Shores of
Glee
o
Hasten Rapids
o
Mouth of
River Thatch
o
Terin Basin
o
Waters of
Jazier
o
Whitecaps of
Tyasa
·
Roads, Paths,
etc.
o
Stone Road
o
Path of Gigen
o
Mountain Pass
of Truth
o
Path of glass
rocks
o
Fork of
Blight
o
Hidden Hollow
o
Pass of Neeth
o
Streets of
Mer
·
Forests
o
Forests of
Kresh
o
Trees of East
o
Western
Forest of Garth
o
Jungle of Tat
o
Whispering
Willows
o
Ancient Oak
Forest
·
Mountains,
Hills, etc.
o
Rising Peaks
o
Hills of
Narten
o
Falling Hills
o
Mountain Pass
of Tarth
·
Sanctuaries,
Churches, Temples, etc.
o
High Evening
Sanctuary
o
Thatch Temple
o
Temple of
Osten Berle
o
Church of
Time
o
Fellow Church
o
Parish of Xad
o
Site of the
One
o
Open Air
Following
·
Towns,
Villages, etc.
o
Village of
Langth
o
Town of Mer
o
City of Quest
o
Hollow River
Village
o
Hero Township
·
Special Map
Areas
o
Grasslands of
Od
o
Prairies of
Kel
o
Fields of Mer
o
Plains of
Langth
o
Rock of Feb
o
Jungle of
Jeet
o
Swamp Mist
o
Fog of
Clowden
o
Mystery Knoll
o
Faithful
Wishing Well
o
Lowlands
o
Highlands of
Dasfernon
o
Sands of Time
o
Desert of
Wealth
o
Ice of Bath
I probably gave you a
little more than you really wanted to know, but these
examples can spark the imagination for many more.
Sometimes people need the ideas brought forth in order
to create a masterpiece of their own. In any case, these
are just samples of what I could bring forth in a short
period of time for any imaginary map. Try to think of
out-of-the ordinary names and descriptions for places.
Be careful as some creations can sound downright silly,
while others can leave a lasting impression of intrigue
for the reader. In other words: “Describe, Describe,
Describe!!!”
Finishing
the Map.
To finish the
Map, make sure the name and date are added to the map,
usually done in the lower right hand corner. This makes
the Map copyright protected. Which means essentially
that the person’s name on the Map is the rightful
Owner/creator of the Map and the date signifies the time
the Map was created. Other people are not allowed to
copy or re-create the Map unless they have express
permission from the Owner to do so.
Map Key
Another fun
item to add to your Map is the Map Key Codes. Turn over
your map and make a small box for each Key item on your
map to explain what your map offers to it’s readers…
For example:
Some items
might be water, swamps, roads, rocks, mountains,
castles, grass, hills, bridges, houses, villages,
stumps, trees, haystacks, birds, etc. See our table
below for more examples.
|
Code/Color |
Item
|
How to Draw it
|
|
Ù |
Mountains |
Draw
the letter V upside down. Make small & Big
mountains near each other for a mountain range. |
|
Ç |
Hills |
Draw a
half circle upside down. Make big and small hills
near each other. |
|
* |
Trees |
Little
Stars or squiggles colored green make great trees.
Place them together and make a forest. Trees can
also be made by making small circular spirals on
your paper. |
|
· |
Water |
Draw
irregular large or small bodies of water and color
blue. |
|
--------- |
Path |
Draw a
dashed line from place to place for a good path. |
|
·
or
öôæ |
Grass
or Swamp |
Draw a
green grassy area with little clumps of grass made
from three different sized lines like the three
lined shape to the left! |
|
Ù
ÿ |
House |
Draw a
house easily by drawing the letter V upside down
and then drawing 3 lines underneath it. Some
people get creative and draw a chimney (another
box on the roof) and a squiggle line coming from
it for smoke! |
|
Ù…Ù
ÿ…ÿ
|
Castle |
Draw
your castle easily by making two houses and where
the dotted lines are, connect the dots to make a
solid line across. This will make your castle.
Some people place a cross in each house to have
them appear as the windows or arrow slots of the
castle. |
Direction.
Some people
also add to their maps a sense of direction and
designate which is North, South, East, and West.
Traditionally one will label North.
Measurement.
Most maps
have a scale located on them to specify what a mile or
certain number of miles are on them. I have known some
Authors who use the scale so that their readers can
figure distances to certain places and so that the
reader can figure a time schedule in relation to a scale
of distance.
And Finally the Name!
One of the
last items needed for your Map is a Name. Your new
country, land, or world needs to have a proper name so
that others can reference it easily or mention it. Try
to come up with some original names, names that are New
and Excite the reader. Here are a few for some ideas:
Land of Ieesis,
World of the Lost Stone
Frastacia
Keeonon Reach
Lost Isle of Plearitim
Kingdom of the Frosted
Toad
The Century of the Mist
Elf
The Fabled Map of Ibsmith
Realms of the Mystic
Dwarves
Good
luck on your venture of creating a wonderful Map.
Remember that your imagination can inspire some of the
most beautiful and most creative maps around. Look
around your world and see what you would like to create
in your NEW world. Perhaps you might create a map to
inspire a story or two. Stretch your mind in creating a
map that will also inspire others.
I hope this
activity has helped you and/or your child to explore the
magical world of Imagination. You can contact me for
more inspiration or help at
KrisWilliams@ChildCareMagazine.us. If you are
inspired to take your Map further by creating a story to
go with it, I will have more activities to inspire your
creativity here soon.
