Have you ever wanted to map out where you have been with your family? This is something I have wanted to do for a very long time. I have been meaning to buy a very fancy, handmade world map that comes with the cool pins, so that we can display our many solo and family travels over the years. One day I will buy that beautiful, wooden world map with minimalistic pins of varying colours and tags, but in the meantime I found another way to map out where you have been with your family.
During the beginnings of the Covid-19 Pandemic, my creative juices came out to play as I was frantically trying to boost the morale in our household. On one of my trips to the two-dollar shop (during a non-lockdown period), I came across some maps of the world and of New Zealand. That’s when an idea popped into my head – why not map out where our family have travelled to? Along with the maps, I also grabbed some small coloured stickers. The pack had four different colours which was perfect to indicate each of us in our family.
That same evening, my family and I (except Ollie because he was napping), put stickers on our maps to show where we had travelled. Of course we had to help our 3-year old because she wanted to put herself in the Atlantic Ocean LOL! It was so cool to be able to reminisce about the places we had visited and then dream about the places we would like to visit one day.
Below is our New Zealand Map!
Once we completed our maps, we put them on the walls outside our bathroom area so that we would be able to see them often throughout our day. When I have rough days at home, or when I am trying to settle one of the kids to sleep, looking at the maps makes me think back to the day when we completed this activity and it brings back good memories. Many of our friends who come through our home also love looking at these maps, and it is a great conversation starter about places you have visited or wish to visit one day.
I hope that this very simple activity helps you to bond with your family and friends the way that it helped me to!