Below is a range of ideas for the teaching and learning of maps and places. It is by no means a definitive list, just a brainstorm of ideas I have used and that work. Feel free to comment below and offer feedback on successes and problems as well as any further ideas!

• Purchase ‘SIM’ Games – Sim City – design and build your very own city from scratch and watch it develop; Sim Earth – take charge of the entire planet from its birth to its death – 10 billion years later.

• Around the World Snap – www.greenboardgames.com

• Be creative – make a display of many different types of maps. E.g Antique effect, topological, OS, street maps, physical/political, different projections, different views of the earth etc.

• Either make your own or buy some Top Trumps cards – good for development topics/general country vital statistics!

• Using a spare/free map – make a jigsaw. Laminate the pieces to protect them for longer. This can be used as a small group activity or whole class starter activity depending.

• Keep your eye open for free maps in the Independent Newspaper. This is a frequent occurrence – up-to-data, eye-catching and informative freebies!

• Get your year 7 students to draw the world map from scratch, with no help at all. Save these and repeat either at the end of the year/Key stage/school career and compare the differences!

• Produce 3D maps using a variety of materials. Cardboard can be layered to produce 3D contour maps. Paper maché can be used to mould 3D terrain.

• Laminate world physical/political maps. These can be used for a variety of activities. Students can label these maps with dry wipe markers, which can be wiped off after use.

• Help students learn about places by giving students a world map and a map of the UK at the start of the year. When a place is mentioned/discussed/used as a case study pupils can plot this place onto their maps. 

• Trivial Pursuit – great version of the game called Globe trotter!

• Students can make their own antique treasure maps and write the directions to their treasure. Maps can be stained with tea/coffee to be made old!

• Students could draw a map of their local area. These can be peer assessed as part of a lesson. What makes a good/bad map?

• Personal Geographies – a good activity at the start of the year with a new group is to ask them to mind map their personal geography (brainstorm using pictures/key words showing links). Where they live; where they have been; where they know about; where they would like to go etc.

• Show students an outline of a country – they guess which country. Be mean and twist the image around to make it more of a challenge!

• Students can peel an orange (world map may be drawn on) to see how difficult it is to make a flat map out of a round object! This links nicely to projections of maps.

• Use the free application of Google earth to pinpoint a particular place.

• Work out the distance to places and make a world signpost on the seiling of your classroom or in real life!

• Give students a outline map of a country/continent – they fill it with words/statements/a poem to describe this place.

• Lord of the Rings – Middle earth Maps are great for escapism!

• Follow a line of longitude/latitude on a globe/world map. List the places (areas/seas/nationa/towns/rivers/mountains etc) through which it goes. This information can be converted into a topological map.

• Show students an incorrect map, and get them to spot the mistakes. This could lead into a discussion about the accuracy of any map.

• Make a tactile map of your local area/school grounds using a variety of materials to represent different areas.

• Where’s Wally – give students clues to a place, each clue making the location more obvious. With atlases students guess after each clue. Score 1 point if they got the correct answer after the first clue etc. Lowest score wins.

•  Each student researches one country and produces a page for your class Atlas!

• Pin the feature on the map (same as pin the tail on the donkey) – often producing hilarious results!

•  Ask students to bring in postcards from home. Create a display and locate on a world/continent where they have come from.

• Simple quizzes, crosswords, word searches are great for getting students familiar with names of places.

• Encourage students to describe the route taken if they flew there from the UK (names of countries flown over, distance travelled, time zone changes).

• Cartogramming – produce a living map. Students move to the relevant places in the room depending on the task/map. The map could be outlined or imaginary. Labels are an option. E.g. Ask students to move to where they would most like to visit. Reasons why can be shared as a whole class.

• Produce a map of the local environment/school using nothing but smilies to represent emotions/feelings about areas.

• As a whole class list of where they have visited. Plot them on this map and click to see the results! www.world66.com/myworld66/visitedCountries