Shower curtain village

Make a community playmat with your child from an inexpensive shower curtain liner. This creative activity builds map skills and can help your child become more aware of the purpose of various buildings within the community and the nature of the work carried out there by community helpers such as doctors, firefighters, postal workers and so forth. Best of all, children love this activity and the end product can be stored easily and reused again and again.

To make the playmat, unfold the shower curtain liner and tape it to the floor  Have your child assist you in deciding where the streets of the town should go, what buildings should be in the town, and where buildings should be located. You may wish to draw major elements in permanent marker. Children can fill in the details of buildings, add trees, sidewalks, and do coloring with washable markers. (Crayons also work on some types of plastic.) Make sure to leave parking spaces for vehicles such as firetrucks, an ambulance, shoppers' cars and so forth. When the playmat is finished, children can arrange plastic figures, vehicles and street signs on the mat.