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Kid's Activity: Make a Clay Map!

by Melissa Jaramillo and Julie Snyder

The first maps may have been drawn in the dirt with fingers or a stick. They probably directed others to food, water or showed a way back home. One of the biggest disadvantages of a dirt map was having to leave it behind. That it could easily be erased was a second liability.

Later, more permanent maps were made. Depending on their environment, early peoples used various local materials in their mapmaking. Some maps were painted on rocks; others were woven in reeds; sometimes sea shells marked the spot. Eskimos carved wooden maps from driftwood. Chinese pained maps on silk cloth. Babylonians scratched maps in soft clay that hardened in the hot sun.

We're going to make a map from clay (salt and flour) in much the same way clay maps were made in the desert kingdom of Babylonia thousands of years ago. These rocklike maps are the oldest existing maps. They were made by drawing in soft clay, much the same way you'll be making your map. While the Babylonian maps were dried by heat from the sun, you may need to choose a different heat source.

Be thinking who will read your map and why they need it. Perhaps you'd like to hide a treasure for your sister or brother and give them a map to find it. Maybe you'll record your the location of a crysallis you found on a hike this morning. Have an idea so once the clay is ready you can draw.

Here's what you need:

  • 2 cups salt
  • 1 cup flour
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 3 drops cooking oil
  • Mixing bowl
  • Spoon
  • Disposable pie pan

Here's what you do:

  1. Mix salt and flour together in the bowl
  2. Slowly add water while stirring
  3. Add oil and stir
  4. Transfer clay to pie pan
  5. Press into place and smooth surface
  6. Use a pencil or stick to draw your map
  7. Place pan and clay in sun to dry (Or if sun is lacking in your area, bake in over at 200°F (93°C) for about an hour.)

Congratulations! You are now a successful cartographer (map maker)!

Julie Snyder is a mom of six, interested in kids, pregnancy, birth, people and lives in the outlying Seattle area. Melissa Jaramillo is mom to many. She's passionate about building, encouraging, and strengthening families on this adventure known as parenthood!

Copyright © Melissa Jaramillo and Julie Snyder. Permission to republish granted to Pregnancy.org, LLC.