Let me show you how great this is. When I saw the inside of this book [Draw Europe] I thought we have to use this, this looks like so much fun.
With her lovely little language she tells you how to make sure it is at the right part of paper….like this: “This blob looks like Santa’s bag of gifts and will contain eight countries.” Like how great is that? That totally does look like Santa’s bag of gifts. So that’s really fun.
This smart idea was created by Kristin Draeger– it’s just BRILLIANT! Instead of sitting with a map, trying to memorize it, kids are taught to draw the world, one section at a time.
As the kids draw, it sticks in their brains 100x better, especially for kids that are visual and kinesthetic learners.
I love that while you’re working up to learning all of the detail, you’re still just walking through the drawing resource step-by-step…
Okay, I’m beside myself excited about this one [Draw Oceania]. I’m actually shedding a small tear that I didn’t have this one a couple of months ago when we were drowning in the sea of islands while trying to Draw Oceania.
Drawing a map, like reading, or algebra, is a difficult skill to learn and if one sets an 8-year-old down with a map of the US and says "draw this," the child will be as overwhelmed as if he were confronted with reading Shakespeare before he could read The Cat in the Hat, and will quickly abandon it. Sure, a child could understand and appreciate the story of Hamlet as well as read a map at the age of 8, but if you ask her to READ Hamlet or DRAW a map, that is another story. The intellect of a child far outpaces her skills and if you ask too much too soon from her skills you can forever extinguish a desire for more.
In this series of books I simply want to introduce children to geography by giving them a primer in the borders and locations of states, provinces and countries. By doing so I hope to invite them further into the beautifully complicated world of geography.
Are these drawings cartoons? Absolutely they are, and in the best sense of that word. The word "cartoon" originated in the Middle ages and meant what we would today call a "sketch," something that the artist drew as he thought out, or prepared to draw his masterpiece. By engaging students in drawing "cartoon" maps I hope to give them enough self-confidence to someday give the real thing a try.
