Postcard Map

What You Need:

• Postcards from various cities, states, and countries
• Large bulletin board
• Map of the world
• Pushpins in different colors

What You Do:

1. To start your postcard collection, give your address to friends, family, and acquaintances and ask them to send you a postcard from the city where they live or from places where they travel. You can also look for postcards in tourist shops, gift shops, and secondhand stores wherever you go.
2. To track your postcards, hang a large bulletin board in a place where you can easily reach it.
3. Have your child pin the world map to the bulletin board, or on the wall next to the bulletin board if you don't mind poking pins in the wall.
4. Each time you add a postcard to your collection, have your child pin it to the bulletin board and place a corresponding pin on the map to mark where it came from. If your child is unfamiliar with the city or country on the postcard, ask him questions and give him hints to help him figure out its location. Try asking him which state or country the place is in, for example, to help him narrow down the possibilities. Even if your child is really stumped, try to let him find the place on his own; the goal of this activity is to teach your child about the world, and the best way for him to do that is to explore it himself.
5. Try to find out at least three interesting facts about each place such as famous landmarks, population, or which languages are spoken there.
6. Review the map from time to time to talk about what your child has learned and where he might like to travel someday.

Your postcard map also makes a great visual representation of past trips and vacations. Tie colored string between pins to mark the path you traveled on a given trip.