KS1 - Local Area Study

Take your class outdoors to explore and map your local area, combining observation, measurement, and creativity. Children will work collaboratively to record human and physical features, use natural materials to create large-scale maps, and begin designing their own map keys—making geography hands-on, active, and memorable.

Lesson Plans

Knowing the differences between human and physical features

During this outdoor lesson, your children will secure their understanding of ‘human’ and ‘physical’ features and begin to recognise these in their local area. They’ll also have the opportunity to get creative using natural loose parts on a large-scale to do this!

Learning objective:

To understand the differences between human and physical features.

Learning how to use plan perspectives

Combine maths and geography with this fun and unique outdoor lesson! Your children will begin by moving around your school grounds to gain a better understanding of the space, then move to transferring this knowledge to a plan perspective, incorporating measures to demonstrate this on a large-scale.

Learning objective:

To learn how to use plan perspectives.

Describing a route on a map

This outdoor lesson centres around taking your children on a walk around your local area, outlining the fieldwork activities you will complete along the way and the preparation needed beforehand to create a successful walk. The perfect session to utilise to engage your local in their local environment more!

Learning objective:

To use locational and directional language to describe a route on a map.

Using symbols to create a map key

Following on from your walk in Lesson 3, this outdoor lesson asks your children to reflect on the features they saw and the route they took. They will work collaboratively to create a map of your route, then use natural loose parts and chalk to begin to incorporate symbols for features, using this as a basis for a map key.

Learning objective:

To use symbols to create a key on a simple map.

Before you get started

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