How to make a Pinboard map

The more we travel as a family the more we realise how much our children love to be able to understand our travels, and make sense of the world by looking at them on a map. From my daughter looking at the road map in the car in the UK, to my son plotting pirate raids on a map he picked up when we cruised the Caribbean, maps are great fun.

I have wanted to make a map we could stick pins in for years. There is something so satisfying about taking control of the world like this!

Suddenly I found myself with all the things I needed for this project on Sunday night. It went down so well with my children, who are 6 and 8, and has really inspired conversation as a family about what to add to our family ‘travel bucket and spade list’ (bucket list seems too harsh!)

 

How to Make a Map Pinboard

You will need

Mod Podge – (glue and varnish in one)

A Map

A cork pinboard

Paint for the frame

Brush/sponge

Pins

Instructions

1. Measure up the map and carefully cut it to size to fit the cork board.

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2. Paint the frame at this stage (picture below shows map, but ideally paint the frame first!) Leave to dry and apply more coats if desired. I am a lazy painter and just gave it a quick whitewashing, but it depends where the map is going to live.

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3. Spread Mod Podge over the cork area using a brush or better still a sponge.

4. Starting at one edge, carefully place and smooth the map down, slowly squeezing out any bubbles. It’s a lot like the technique for sticky back plastic, if you have ever attempted that. Allow to dry.

5. Varnish the map using Mod Podge, make sure to get into the edges to seal them down.

6. Find a home for your new map and decide what the rules of pinning are!

 

How to make a Pinboard map

We pinned places we went as a family.

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Places I have blogged from for Comic Relief – this really gave the children a sense of how huge Africa is as a continent, and that it is a real place.

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This week the kids insisted on adding a pin for Daddy’s work. Then we played ‘pin the tail on the place on the globe you have to visit one day’. My 8yo is off to LA in her lifetime and my 6yo son picked remote Siberia…

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The wonderful thing about this is it has really inspired them to imagine the world, to visualise the globe and to think about travel possibilities.