Wall Maps for New Zealand Classrooms
Ask any teacher which resources actually get used every day and the answer is rarely the one that needs a login. A big map on the classroom wall gets pointed at, argued over and traced with fingers. It is always on, it never buffers, and thirty students can look at it at once.
We specialise in producing large-format topographic and aerial wall maps of New Zealand. A growing number of these end up in classrooms, school libraries and outdoor education rooms. Here's what works well in a school setting.
What to put on the wall
Most schools land on some combination of three maps.
- The national view. A giant North Island or South Island map for the library, hall or a main corridor.
- The regional view. The area students can actually reach on a camp or field trip. Ruapehu and Tongariro, Aoraki Mount Cook, Fiordland and dozens more. Usually the map that gets the most use.
- The local view. A custom topographic map centred exactly on your school. For local studies and place-based learning this is a popular option.
Where it fits in the classroom
- Geography and science. Landforms, settlement patterns, land use, natural hazards, catchments, erosion and coastal processes.
- Outdoor education and camps. Plan the tramp, mark the route, work out day distances, brief the class, then debrief on the same map afterwards. Students who have planned a route on paper navigate better in the field.
- Orienteering and navigation. Bearings, grid references and route choice are far easier to teach when everyone is looking at the same large map.
- Mathematics. Scales, ratios, grid references, distances, gradients and area.
Size and format
A0 (84.1 x 118.9 cm) is the size we recommend for classrooms. It is big enough for a group to gather around and read place names from a metre away. A1 suits smaller rooms and staffrooms.
Prints come on heavy, waterproof, tear-resistant stock, which handles classroom life better than poster paper. Laminating is worth doing where a map will be handled a lot, and it lets students draw routes on with whiteboard markers and wipe them off.
Ordering for a school
We deal with school orders regularly. Tell us what you need and we will send a written quote you can take to your principal or board, invoice the school against a purchase order rather than asking for payment at checkout, and price better than the listed rates when there are several maps in the order. Full detail is on our maps for schools page.
Maps get used. Put a good one on the wall and it will still be earning its place for years to come.