Sunday School or Bible Clubs > Visuals > Maps

Buy inexpensive maps that have cute pictures

Candle Books makes kid-friendly poster sticker books for Moses and Jesus.  They have lots of cute stickers that  can be stuck onto sheet magnets and cut out, so they can be used over and over again.

This map goes east as for as the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, so it is good for following  Abraham’s life. It has been drawn onto a bed sheet with markers. Small figures and accessories can make following the details of the story  more interesting. Pictured here is a tent, well, and some camels to represent Abraham and his servant’s journey to find a wife for Isaac.

This map goes from Egypt to Italy, so it is just right to follow Paul’s  4 missionary journeys. Details were drawn onto a bed sheet with markers. Using small figurines and a toy ship that can be moved around the map makes following the details of the story  more interesting. The children can plot out each trip with a different color of tape or colored yarn. Warning: Painting on fabric can be tricky--when I painted the land green, I allowed room for it to bleed, but it still  bled beyond the edge of “land.” Next time I would paint a border of undiluted acrylic paint along the edge of land, and let it dry, to form a barrier. Then I would paint the rest of the land with diluted paint.

A world map is less useful for Bible lessons, but very useful for a missions emphasis. You can use it to locate missionaries your church supports. You can use it for times when you don’t have planned activities such as for early birds, or on days your lesson plan doesn’t quite fill up all the time. Call out names of countries, cities, oceans, rivers, etc., and see who can find it the fastest. If you have two, you can divide the group into two teams. )(This map was purchased at a hundred yen store),You could even use a world map as a motivation chart to keep track of various students or teams’ accomplishments--make little paper hot air balloons to “go around the world in 80 days.”

If you find a geography game, buy it and use it during missions conferences, to help celebrate Pentecost (the birth of the church around the world), and then at odd times during the year when you need an instant activity. This is an easy way to help your children learn about the world, and it takes no preparation time

Maps can be very useful in understanding certain Bible stories. However, most maps are made for adults and can be boring for kids, so here are some ideas to make maps more interesting.

Use reproducible books to copy pictures and glue them to magnets

Make your own cute character magnets to follow Joshua in his conquest of the promised land, or Joseph from when he was sold into slavery to when he was second in line to Pharaoh. Photocopy pictures of the people you are studying, color them in, then glue them to sheet magnets and cut them out.

Make a timeline to use in conjunction with the a map

Photocopy pictures that match the story you are studying and put them around the edge of the map and use yarn to point from the picture to where it took place on the map.

Draw maps on old sheets and use Bible action figures to move around Bible lands

Keep your eyes open for other sources for cute pictures or stickers. The animal magnets above could be used for Noah and the ark (sold at 100 yen stores.) Some Christian Book stores have sets of Bible stickers--stick these to sheet magnets and cut them out to use on any map--just put them on a magnetic whiteboard.

Use reproducible books to copy maps and add your own fun details to the maps

Use world maps and games for missions moments or when you have time with nothing to do